Undertale
by Picachuyou
Summary: Hundreds of years later, the war with the Monsters is nothing more then a few pages in a history book. It is unknown where the Monsters were sealed away exactly, but that is not enough to stop Frisk. Join Frisk as she stumbles into the land of Undertale and struggles against the Monsters her people fought with so long ago. Novelization of Undertale. FemFrisk.
1. Prologue

"Long ago, two races ruled over Earth: Humans and Monsters. One day, war broke out between the two races. After a long battle, the humans were victorious. They sealed the monsters underground with a magic spell.

Many years later, They say those who climb Mt. Ebott, never return."

And yet, Frisk stood on the edge of that very mountain, the long, winding dirt path taunting her to climb it to see if those rumors rang true. She had heard the legend from a history book she had picked up, and after some bets with her friends, they all promised to meet up at the path up the mountain as soon as sunlight started to peer over the horizon. The way the path stood before her, the unkempt way the dirt road was littered with leaves and roots filled her with determination as she waited.

So she did wait, for what seemed to be hours she walked around in circles, careful to avoid the budding flower that had sprouted where her circular motion took her. It was very odd to see a flower this late in the year, especially one who was so young. It was late fall, so most of the flowers had been replaced by fallen leaves. She had to smile softly at the yellow flower's determination to fight the seasons itself to survive. Frisk made a silent reminder for when she returned from the mountain that she would go ahead and put the flower in a spare vase to keep it safe from the elements.

Frisk heard a the loud caw of a crow resonate through the forest, causing her to look up from her thoughts, only to find the sun had rose from it's original position when she had arrived. Frisk bit the inside of her lip as she tapped their foot softly next to the flower. Where had her friends gone to? She was tempted to say they just forgot, or were running late, but she had the sneaking suspicion that they had chickened out on her, which sent frustration up her spine. Frisk crossed her arms.

"That's fine, if they want to be scared, that won't stop me." Frisk told the flower. "I'll head up to the mountain and wait for them there." Frisk then slowly realized that she was actually talking to a flower. Rather than continue to embarrass herself in front of no one, she took her leave up to the top of the mountain.

The journey to the top had been rather laborious. Without someone to keep the path clean, nature itself had started to destroy her way to the top. She had left the path several times out of confusion to where exactly the path was. The road itself didn't help at all as it turned and swerved in odd directions, avoiding invisible foes as it fled. At one point it actually did a complete u-turn and headed back from once it came, only to turn back around and go straight into a tree.

By then Frisk had gotten over trying to follow the path and instead opted to wing it. Frisk knew which way the peak was, it loomed over her the entire time, judging her every movement. Frisk just had to figure out a way to get there.

After jumping over logs, scraping her knees more times then she would like to admit, Frisk had come across the remains of a broken and beaten path- if you could even call it that. Chucks were all that remained, the earth having long since sucked up the rest. Frisk had followed the small segments, somehow not missing the chunks out of what to seemed to be pure dumb luck, until she came across what the path had led to.

At first, she had mistaken the cave to be some kind of beast, the story of monsters quickly coming to her mind. The mouth was opened up before her, it's teeth several feet long as it hung from the roof of it's mouth. The way the shadows of morning hung over the cave made it seem like the inside was a darkened pit, a tongue made of roots threatening to swallow her whole. She swore she even saw horns protruding from the top.

And yet, even with such a threatening demeanor, she didn't back down. This was what the path lead to- and after hours of traveling, she wasn't eager to just leave. She was tempted to wait for her friends, but she figured they wouldn't be for at least a few hours... if they were even coming at all. She made a mental note to talk to them later about how exploring together didn't exactly work if they weren't present.

Inside the cave was dark. The only light seemed to be shining from the entrance, and a beam of light at the end of the tunnel. From what she could make out, vines stretched down the hallway and wrapped around, clawing at the precious sunlight. Frisk wondered how they even thrived in such a dark environment. The air was heavy with rainwater, her shoes sinking into saturated ground as she walked, making her movements more forceful with each step. It smelt of the dead and spoiled milk- as strange as that was to smell in a cave.

Frisk wondered if all of this effort was really worth it to figure out if some rumor in a book was true. What if it was all made up to keep kids from going to the mountain so they didn't trip and fall? Perhaps it was just an old wives tale that was just some trivial information spread from one person to the other so much that it had convinced one writer that it was true. She decided to keep moving forward. She had come this far anyways, it would be silly to turn back now.

She quickly found herself at the end of the tunnel, the room opening up to reveal a skylight above, moths and small bugs flying around in the fresh air. Vines trickled up the walls and to the skylight, where they then reached out with desperate leaves to catch what sunlight they could. But- Frisk soon found herself shocked at the most prominent feature in the cave.

In the middle of the room, a giant hole... No, giant couldn't even begin to hint at the size of this... Monstrosity. Vines crawled like snakes as Frisk took a step closer, both fascinated and terrified of what could have created such a canyon. She had gotten near the event horizon, almost close enough to peer over the edge to see the walls of the hole extending to what seemed to be an abyss. Frisk had never seen the likes of before. She was so shocked and confused by such a sight, she didn't notice a vine slithering past her.

Her foot caught.

Suddenly she tumbled forward, time seeming to slow as she watched the ground slip away from her. She reached out a hand in an attempt to grab onto the ledge, but only caught air. Slowly she turned as she fell down the pit, her eyes wide.

"HELP!" Frisk screamed out for someone, anyone. She felt cold fear soak through her body. She squeezed her eyes shut, hoping for someone to suddenly appear to help.

But nobody came.


	2. Chapter One

Her body ached. She rolled over, Hoping her new position would help ease the pains that sleeping on benches usually caused- when she was suddenly met with cold, hard, stone. Her eyes snapped away and she shot up, momentarily confused. She glanced around, only to find darkness surrounding Frisk in it's inky choke hold. The only light seemed to be coming from above. She turned her head skyward to see a tiny trickle of light bleeding downwards.

Then it hit her.

She fell.

She felt her body start to shake, her eyes wide with fear. She fell. Down that huge, scary hole. She gulped as she shakily sat down, only to find there was suddenly some soft cushion underneath. She yelped in shock, jumping up and turning to see... a literal bed of yellow flowers in bloom. She hesitantly patted the bed, Then blinked, confused. She didn't want to hurt the flowers, but, she seemed to have had fallen on them- from a seemingly thousands on thousands of feet high, and yet they stood perfectly fine.

She patted them a little harshly, to find they were indeed like small, soft springs. She softly apologize as she sat on them, using their springs as both, actual and emotional support. Frisk ran her fingers through her brown hair, eyes wide as she looked up at the pinprick of light. Small bits of dust floated too and fro, the scene could almost be seen as tranquil if not for the whole under thousands of feet of rock that could fall at any time onto her frail body.

She breathed in and out, looking up at the sunlight. She stood up, then let out the loudest scream she could manage.

It ended up being so loud that it vibrated off of the walls and echoed several times before subsiding. She waited for several seconds, watching the sunlight, hoping for someone to answer. But all was silent except for her quickening heart rate. She clenched and unclenched her hands, her eyes darting around.

Nobody was there... But why would they be? The entrance to the hole was on top of a mountain that nobody went on- and then it was on a completely secret path that nobody knew about. Nobody knew where she was.

She felt tears well up in her eyes, gripping onto her skull as she started to hyperventilate. Was she going to die down here? How would she get back to the surface? Would anyone know where she went? Would anyone even miss her?

She shook her head, trying to shake off those thoughts, tears slowly falling down her cheeks. She needed to be strong... There has to be a way…

She breathed in as much as she could, then exhaled, attempting to keep whatever composure she had left. She wiped away the tears dripping off of her chin, slowly trying to calm herself.

Find a way out.

With her less then realistic goal in mind, she breathed once more, determination flowing through her system. She can do this. It's easy! Just find a path and walk! She attempted to reason with herself that she'd be out soon enough.

She took several steps, the only thing keeping herself from falling apart was her determination to find a way. She could do this. With her arms outstretched, she felt along the walls. This particular room seemed to be in an oval pattern- and quickly she feared this was the only room and her determination would be mute against a stone wall.

She found an edge, causing her to make an audible whoop of joy. She felt along the edge, seeing that the wall must of been attached to a hallway. Frisk followed along for several feet, quietly debating if this was an actual hallway or just a dead end. The stone was... strangely clean cut, no little bumps or cracks across its surface to be felt. She felt unnerved as she recalled the history book.

Could there be monsters down here? She wondered- but before she could continue if it was even possible for there to be monsters after all this time, she came across... a pillar.

There was no mistaking it. The cleverly cut and rounded edges, the complex design, it was most certainly a pillar of some sort. She felt next to the pillar and noticed empty space- and if she looked closely enough, she could see... Light!

She excitedly bounded through the doorway, ready to leave this small adventure behind-

Only to see just another beam of light above, a single yellow flower- almost half of her height stood, it's roots digging through the stone. Her smile broke in half as she stepped closer to the much taller flower. She was impressed with its height. It must of been growing there for a while- and for it to have broken through stone itself!

But she still couldn't help but feel disappointed. As she walked closer- intending to walk past the flower entirely, she noticed the outline of another room ahead. She allowed herself to be filled with a little more hope. This must be some sort of... Cave! Yes! A cave! So she could maybe find an exit of some sor-

She saw something move out if the corner of her eye. She jerked her head, only to see the flower...

And the flower was smiling at her.

Frisk rubbed her eyes, then looked again. No doubting it, the flower... had an actual face. Six blindingly yellow petals, two eyes, and a single mouth... Grinning.

It even had teeth.

Optical illusion! Frisk quickly reasoned. She walked to the left slightly…

The entire flower moved with the face.

There was no mistaking it. That flower was watching her- smiling at her even!

She quickly thought to the monsters. She always imagined the monsters as four legged, clawed beasts with long fangs that could eat her whole- but... the book had only given silhouettes. At least, as much as she could remember. She quietly wished she had brought that book along- but then realised that it was a library book, and she didn't want to accidentally damage someone else's property.

Frisk decided to wave slightly with her hand. The flower's grin seemed to widen.

"Howdy!" It declared- making Frisk jump back in shock.

It... talked.

"I'm Flowey!" The flower continued, clearly unfazed by her jump. "Flowey the Flower!" Frisk blinked slowly at it's name, then nodded.

This was a monster... It must be friendly since it didn't attack... Calm down. Frisk walked a little closer, arms still raised slightly.

"Hmm..." The flower smiled. "You're new to the Underground, aren'cha?" Frisk raised her head. The calming slang and new knowledge helping ease her into the sudden surrealism of a flower talking to her. "Golly, you must be so confused." Frisk nodded, straightening her back slightly as she relaxed. This flower would help her. "Someone ought to teach you how things work around here!"

Frisk nodded gracefully. She was so awfully confused... and this flower was so nice... The flower smiled softly. "I guess little old me will have to do." Frisk nodded gratefully. "Ready?" It asked. Frisk glanced around, then nodded. "Let's go then!"

There was a soft, rapid clicking noise as the flower pointed one of its petals at Frisk's heart. She looked down, to see... Wait... Her heart was glowing?! Frisk pulled at the neck of her striped shirt to see her heart was glowing bright red. She fixed her shirt and looked up at the flower. "You see that heart?" Flowey asked patiently. Frisk nodded, her hand going over her chest as she watched it beat.

"That is your Soul- the very culmination of your very being!" Frisk's eyes widened as she looked at the heart again. That was... All she was? That was it? She couldn't help but feel so small that her tiny little heart was all of her memories, all of her personality, all of her... everything- wrapped into one tiny package.

"Your Soul starts off weak, but it can grow strong if you gain enough LV!" Frisk blinked, confused. The flower seemed to notice this and quickly explained. "LV stands for LOVE, of course!" It smiled, the happy feeling the flower was emitting spreading to Frisk and she smiled as well. But how do you gain Love? Is it in a literal sense- or a metaphorical one? She looked at the flower, hopeful it would explain. The flower tilted its... head, seemingly confused on what Frisk wanted- then a look of inspiration seemed to strike.

"Oh! I can give you some LOVE if you like!"

Flowey grinned- Causing Frisk's eyes to widen. Was Love that expendable to where it could be given out to- an outsider like her? She wasn't one to say no to a gift- so she nodded. The flower stuck out it's tongue happily at Frisk, then suddenly shook slightly, releasing white.. pollen? She wasn't quite sure what it was. It seemed to have a white aura and floated around, as if it had a mind of it's own. She could only relate them to small balls of white light- like a Christmas decoration.

"Down here, LOVE is shared through these little, white," Flowey paused. "Friendlyness pellets." Frisk nodded as the friendlyness pellets started moving closer, playfully floating around. "Go ahead and catch them!" Flowey exclaimed, Frisk nodded, grinning as she ran up to the nearest one and reached out for i-

Frisk was knocked onto the ground. Her eyes unfocused as the world seemed to be spinning. White hot fire burned inside her soul as she gasped. She curled, tears forming into her eyes. It hurt. The pain wouldn't go away. She felt like crying.

She slowly pulled herself up, grabbing onto her chest with a pained expression, looking at Flowey for an explanation.

"Wh-" She started to ask the flower before she saw the gruesome face of pure malice before her.

"You IDIOT!" The flower cackled, it's full row of teeth visible inside of it's body. "In this world, it's kill, or BE KILLED!" Frisk felt her blood turn to ice. She desperately backed away, then turned to see the little pieces of 'friendliness pellets' coming towards her in a fog, their originally floaty and friendly movements stiff and calculated.

She glanced behind her to see vines slowly reaching up from the ground, blocking the exits. She hadn't even thought of escaping- and before she could even hesitate to think about it, the flower had already cut off her only means of escape. She looked at the flower with pleading eyes, hoping to have some mercy.

"Who WOULDN'T take an opportunity like this!?" The flower cruelly laughed in Frisk's face. She glanced down, looking at her hands. She had been... so easily tricked into trusting this Monster... Frisk rubbed her eyes as she glanced at the blurry shapes at the corner of her vision. They had surrounded her, no way to escape.

Suddenly they all jerked forward. The thought of that excruciating pain wracking through her soul again caused her to cry out in fear. "H-HeLP!"

And then she saw a figure burst through the doorway. The vines were engulfed in flames and Flowey let out a cry of pain as it's body shook. The 'Friendlyness pellets' faded out of existence and Frisk took this time to dive for as far away from the flower as she could. The large... Beast swung its hand, fire escaping its paws and the flower quickly ducked into the ground. The vines soon followed underground, and Frisk soon found herself wondering when they would return to attack again.

She had hidden herself in the shadows of a corner- or as much of a corner as you can get inside of an oval room. Frisk hoped that the shadows would help hide her from both the eventual return of the flower and the strange monster before her- but the beast seemed to take notice of her shaking form rather quickly.

The beast- could only be described as some sort of anthropomorphic goat wearing a long robe with a strange insignia on the front. As strange as that sounded- although next to talking, killer flowers, she guessed it was about as normal as she could of gotten in the Underground.

Frisk looked up at the goat lady- wide eyed with fear as she stepped closer. Frisk remembered Flowey's words clearly in her head- Who wouldn't take an opportunity to kill her? Frisk shrunk down, wincing, hoping her smaller size would invoke some mercy on the goat monster. She covered her face- not wanting to see if she was going to be hit with more pellets... They weren't any kind of pellets she'd seen- they acted more like deadly bullets. Her body still ached and shivered with pain, her heart burning inside of her chest.

"What a terrible creature-" She heard an... oddly mother like tone speak, clearly exasperated. Frisk half expected the voice was talking about her. "Torturing some poor, innocent youth." She blinked, then uncovered herself, looking upwards at the friendly face, much softer with age then the flower before. The goat lady was much closer then before, but she was on one knee, reaching out a paw halfway. "Do not be afraid, my child." Frisk wasn't as accepting this time and shook her head softly. The lady still remained, rather determined. "I am Toriel, caretaker of the Ruins."

Frisk pushed herself upwards, holding onto her arm softly as she looked off to the side, rather then at Toriel. Toriel continued either way. "I pass through this place every day to see if anyone has fallen down, You are the first Human to come here in a long time." Frisk turned to Toriel, wide eyed- Was there other humans here? Perhaps they knew a way out!

"If you would like, you can come with me, I will lead you through the catacombs." She spoke softly, not a demand in sight. Frisk could go with Toriel, or she could stay here. Before Frisk had time to fully think of her options, she tried to stand up a little straighter, only to wince and hold onto her chest in pain as it laced up her spine. "Before you decide, you seem to be in extreme pain- would you like me to heal you, my child?" Frisk looked at Toriel skeptically.

"Does... It hurt?" She meekly asked the taller being. She didn't like being suspicious of others, especially those who just saved her hide- but Frisk had thought Flowey was helping as well, and that didn't turn out nearly as well.

Toriel shook her head softly, lowering her arm as she turned over her palm, revealing what looked like a small, green orb that swirled and danced with energy.

"This will only temporally heal you, the only true healing is a nice meal and a good night's rest," Toriel explained, her expression seemed to be on the brim with worry. "I am not forcing you to use my magic though, if you don't want to use it, I will not force you." Frisk glanced down at her own heart- the glowing had subsided, but she could still feel it right there, if she looked hard enough, she swore she could see an outline. Frisk turned to Toriel, rubbing her head and nodding.

Frisk watched the orb rise from Toriel's palm and slowly float over to Frisk's chest, as if the magic itself was hesitant. Frisk was tempted to take a step back, but she pushed herself to stay strong. It didn't help her legs were shaking like a leaf.

The orb expanded, the green wrapping around Frisk and holding her in a warming blanket. Frisk felt her tense muscles relax as she slouched over slightly, letting the healing magic flow through her system. She could only compare the feeling to a nice hot coco on a winter night, or being wrapped in a blanket right out of the dryer. Perhaps both combined. The pain still ebbed slightly, but it felt more like accidentally hitting something hard rather then being hit by something much harder.

Frisk looked up at Toriel after the warm feeling subsided, stepping out of her little corner ever so slightly as she looked up at the still kneeling Toriel.

"I'm Frisk." She stuck out her hand slightly, pulled it in a little as she imagined it could of been another trap, then extended it out fully. If it was a trap, why would Toriel heal her? Toriel smiled, her happiness over Frisk trusting her, even with what happened not several minutes ago, evident on her face. Toriel pushed herself upwards, standing to her full height- Which Frisk soon found to be nearly two and a half times her own height.

Toriel reached out her own paw, and Frisk saw Toriel's paw was so large that it more than doubled her own. Frisk quickly shook Toriel's hand with both of her hands as to compensate for the size difference. Toriel then turned halfway from Frisk.

"It is a pleasure to meet you Frisk, If you so desire, please do come along!" She then smiled once more, and walked away through the light in the other doorway. Frisk blinked, and soon followed suit- not wasting any time in case the flower decided to show back up for round two.

As Frisk walked to the center of the room, she was awestruck by the vibrantly dark purple brick that lined the room. Red leaves were spread across the cave- reminding her of the fall on the surface above. The ground itself was akin to some kind of purple grass- but the way her shoes crunched against the plant seemed to signal it wasn't alive. Two sets of lavender concrete stairs wrapped up the walls and arrived at a platform several feet high. Frisk rubbed her arm as she looked up at the platform to see a sign hung above a doorway, the next room barely visible. The air felt cold and dry inside the Ruins, and she kept feeling this pressure on her body, as if the very weight of the earth was resting on her shoulders.

Frisk then remembered she was thousands of feet underground. She distinctly remembered that the closer to the earth you were, the more pressure was put on your body. That's why she couldn't go to the bottom of the ocean by swimming- if she could breathe underwater.

Frisk turned her head to look up at Toriel as she ascended the steps without her. Toriel had to pick up her robe as she walked, causing her to slow down as she focused on each step. Frisk quickly ran up the opposite steps and to the top, meeting Toriel before she got to the top. Toriel seemed to notice Frisk's eagerness, a sad smile washing over her features. She chuckled softly anyways.

"Slow down, little one-" Toriel raised her palm. "An old lady, such as myself, can only move so fast." Frisk looked over Toriel- She didn't seem that old in all honesty. She might of been the age of her mom- although she hadn't seen her own mom in a while now so that might of been a bad example.

Frisk nodded and let Toriel take the lead into the next room. Frisk followed close behind, glancing from behind Toriel's robe at the room ahead in case some less friendly monster tried to attack. The new room had the same purple bricks- an unknown light source keeping the room lit. A closed, stone door sat on the opposite side of the room while a worn path stood in between. Several stone switches sat to the left and a golden switch hung by the door. Toriel walked the the center of the room and knelt down to Frisk's level.

"Welcome to your new home, innocent one." Frisk felt her heart do a flop. New home? But- did that mean there was no way to leave the Ruins? Was she trapped down here forever? No- There had to be... Some way! She didn't belong here- She didn't have strange magic or any will to hurt even a flower- (Although she felt would feel less guilty then normal if it was Flowey.)

Frisk felt Toriel's paw on her shoulder as she smiled sadly. Frisk felt tears prick at the edge of her vision, but she desperately clung onto the hope she could maybe find a way to escape. Perhaps there was something she could find that they didn't know about?

She knew that her chances of leaving were now down to nothing, but she refused to read the writing on the wall.

That couldn't be it. It just couldn't. Frisk held back her tears.

Toriel took Frisk's small hands and smiled, clearly trying to ease the situation. "Let me educate you in how to get around the ruins." Toriel softly led Frisk to the stone switches. Frisk rubbed her eyes and nodded. She'd get to the surface. Somehow.

Toriel pointed out the four switches to hit, and then Toriel demonstrated how to properly step on all four of the switches. She then led her to the golden switch on the door and flicked it up for Frisk. "The Ruins are full of puzzles," Toriel explained as the door behind her shook and wobble- Slowly being pulled upwards. "One must solve them to move from room to room, so please do adjust yourself to the sight of them." Frisk nodded obediently as they headed to the next room.

The scent of fresh water hit Frisk like a pile of bricks. Her eyes lit up as she saw the crystal clear liquid flowing through the long hallway, bridges built over it for crossing. A convenient path was worn away in the slightly livelier grass. Vines hung from the purple, brick walls and a sign was hung on the wall- another picketed sign was struck in the ground in front of them. Frisk suddenly felt Toriel let go of her hand, making Frisk look up at the much taller Monster, slightly confused.

"To make progress here, you must trigger several switches, but do not worry! I have marked the ones you need to flip," She explained, taking a step back to let Frisk explore a little. Frisk nodded, then stepped up to the first sign she saw- thinking perhaps it would be a clue of some sort... instead It read, 'Press Z to read signs!'...

"Z?" She asked out loud, turning to Toriel, confused.

"Hehe, that's just an inside joke some silly friend once told me," Toriel explained, smiling sweetly. She then motioned for them to cross the bridge with a sweeping motion of her arm. Frisk ignored the other sign, suspecting it would be another inside joke, and walked across the bridge.

Her eyebrows raised as she saw the same switch as before- except now there was arrows painted onto the bricks pointing to the switch. Frisk walked closer to see there was writing all the wall.

Please press this switch. - Toriel.

Frisk turned slightly to Toriel, to see her eagerly smiling on the bridge, her hands clasped together as she waited. Frisk internally snorted over how silly this all was, then flipped the switch.

Toriel let out an audible laugh of joy as she clapped her paws together. "Fantastic job, Frisk!" She exclaimed. Frisk rubbed the back of her neck and smiled softly at Toriel's excitement. It was only flipping a switch…

They walked across a second bridge to see two more switches. One had arrows pointing to it, and the other was left blank. After walking over and flipping the obvious answer, Toriel clapped her paws together.

"Splendid! I am proud of you, little one." Frisk rubbed her head once again, nervous about accepting such praise. It... wasn't that hard.

The next room had no small rivers running through it, but it did curve to the left, which Frisk guessed it meant they weren't just walking in circles. The same purple brick lined the room, and the pathway on the ground seemed rather average. The only thing that made this room unique was an oddly shaped dummy in the center of the room on a dead end of the pathway. Frisk glanced up at Toriel nervously. Did that mean she was practicing to fight Monsters?

Wait, why did she just have a Dummy randomly in a room? Was Toriel expecting her?

Toriel walked next to the Dummy, placing her hands behind her back as she spoke. She didn't look entirely pleased with what she had to say. "Now... As a human living in the Underground, Monsters may attack you." Frisk felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise at that thought. She looked up at Toriel, then at the dummy, then back again with wide eyes.

"You will need to be prepared for this situation," Toriel told her. "However!" She raised a finger. "Worry not! The process is simple. When you encounter a Monster, you will enter a Fight. When you are in that situation, strike up a friendly conversation!" Frisk blinked in surprise. "Stall for time. I will come and resolve the issue." Toriel then motioned to the Dummy. "Let us practice on the Dummy right here." Frisk couldn't help but feel dumbfounded. Talking... To a Dummy? And that would help buy time for Toriel to arrive? What if Toriel was busy? Or she couldn't get there in time? Frisk rubbed her arm at the thought.

Frisk watched the Dummy, then hesitantly looked over at Toriel, taking a step back nervously.

"What is wrong, my child?" She asked exquisitely. Frisk shrugged nervously and crossed her arms, hoping that would be enough to suggest she had no idea how to even start a conversation with... A dummy.

"Oh!" A look of realization crossed her face. "Do you need some ideas for conversation topics?" Toriel tilted her head slightly, her hands cupped together.

Frisk nodded shamefully. Toriel raised a finger to her chin as she thought over it. "Well... I often start with a simple 'how do you do'..." She paused, "You could ask about their favorite books, Oh! Jokes can be useful for 'breaking the ice'." She suddenly looked as if she was struck with inspiration. "Listen to this one, What did this the Skeleton tile his roof with?"

Frisk tilted her head.

"'Shin'-gles!" Toriel smiled, and Frisk only managed a grimace. "Well ... I thought it was amusing."

Frisk glanced at the Dummy once again, taking Toriel's tips to heart as she walked up. She noticed a slight glow coming from her chest- and once she looked down, she noticed that her heart was glowing red again through her striped shirt. Her hand reached up to grab at her shirt, then she looked at the dummy with determination... She could do this.

"Hello...!" She attempted to sound half normal, but she worried if she got to into talking to a Dummy, she might be accused of being insane. Which, with the day she was having, would've been a completely normal statement.

The dummy did not respond. She saw Toriel grinning out of the corner of her eye, and she felt her own heart warm. It felt... Nice.

"Such a good child." She heard Toriel whisper softly to herself as she motioned for them to move to the next room. Frisk felt her own smile lessen ever so slightly as she followed behind the taller Monster.

The next room was covered in the same purple bricks as before, but before she could figure out what the puzzle could be, Toriel kept moving onwards. There was a small, thinner hallway at the end of the room that connected to- Another purple bricked room. Vines continued to etch up the bricks, occasionally breaking up the constant barrage of violet with the contrasting green. The only thing noticeable in this room was the odd shape of the twisting and turning pathway.

"There is a puzzle in this room, but there is a room ahead as well that you should see." Toriel gave the child a soft smile, leading Frisk ahead.

Frisk was still confused where all this light was coming from. She was tempted to ask Toriel, but stopped herself once she saw what sat in the other room. Her jaw opened slightly in shock at the rows on top of deadly spikes that shot up from the ground with a menacing gleam.

She was so shocked that she didn't even notice a sleeping... frog in the middle of the pathway. She tripped over the poor toad and landed on her face with a shocked yelp. She quickly pushed herself up to see the figure of the frog was much bigger than any frog she had ever seen before. It was at least the length of her arm, as wide as Toriel's leg, and had the same strange insignia on Toriel's robe on it's chest. It picked itself up, She assumed the frog was glaring but it's closed eyes were not helping matters.

She caught the faint glow of her chest out of the bottom of her vision, and her eyes grew wide. She took a step back, raising her arms defensively. "H-hello!" She greeted the frog just like she had the Dummy before. "What- You have such lovely eyes!" She blurted out, hoping her loud voice would help at least draw Toriel.

The frog didn't quite seem to understand- but from what she could tell, the commitment had calmed down the frog ever so slightly, but it didn't seem to be enough. It's neck puffed out as it hopped closer, the frog's body slamming onto the ground as it got closer. Frisk backed up into a robed monster and she looked up to see Toriel with crossed arms, glaring at the hopping beast. More then ever, Toriel's giant stature presented itself to Frisk, and she was glad that Toriel was on her side.

Frisk grabbed onto Toriel's robe as the frog hopped past, ribbiting softly at Frisk what she had assumed was an apology. Only when the frog actually jumped into the spikes, she saw the ones it had stepped on had actually shrunk down into the ground as it passed over.

Frisk let go of Toriel's robe and rushed over, quickly watching where the frog had hopped. The jumped between the spikes seemed to be a little far, but if she jumped high enough, she could probably make it. Frisk had readied herself to jump when she felt Toriel's hand on her shoulder. Frisk halted her plan to jump as she looked up to see an apprehensive Toriel watching the spikes shoot up after the frog had hopped away.

"This seems... a little too dangerous," She explained, "Here, take my hand for a moment." Frisk obediently grabbed onto Toriel's paw with both of her hands as Toriel was about to step onto the spikes. Frisk quickly saw this and tried to pull back Toriel before she stabbed herself in the foot with the spikes, but as Toriel stepped down, the spikes retreated into the ground under a layer of steel.

Toriel turned her head. "What is wrong, my child?" She asked. Frisk went red with embarrassment and pointed to the spikes.

"I- thought you would... Hurt yourself," She murmured, glad that Toriel was okay, but upset over the fact that she actually thought Toriel would get hurt when she had said she would lead Frisk to safety.

Toriel seemed to take that as a compliment, a true smile ringing across her face as she continued forward, still holding her hand the whole way.

As Frisk stepped onto the steel plates, she hesitantly thought that they could of been on a timer of some sort, or perhaps they would jolt up if she didn't put enough pressure on them. She could see the holes the spikes shot out of, and she could still see the spikes hiding inside the holes as if they were some sort of spider.

Frisk shivered at the thought.

She nevertheless followed behind Toriel, squeezing her eyes and Toriel's hand tighter as the spikes behind her shot back up. Frisk let out a whimper as they walked in some sort of S shape, and she was all too glad to be back onto solid ground once they were off of the tiles.

The two of them walked to the next room- although the room was not like any room Frisk had seen before. It was much more akin the a long, endless hallway. The end could just barely be seen, and the path swerved back and forth towards the other side of the room.

Frisk felt Toriel slip away from her grip and stand in front of her, a saddened expression spread across Toriel's face as she seemed to struggle between joy and unhappiness. "You have done efficiently thus far... However... I have a difficult request to ask of you." Her head turned down slightly, avoiding Frisk's sight. "I would like you to walk to the end of the room by yourself."

Then, before Frisk could think too hardly about the idea of just walking down a simple hallway, Toriel ran down the hallway, disappearing suddenly behind a pillar that stood oddly next to the doorway.

Frisk watched the pillar for a second, wondering if it would do anything- but after several minutes of nervously glancing around, Frisk decided that standing around was rather pointless. So she started her trek down the ridiculously long hallway.

She wondered if there was perhaps some booby traps stuck to the walls, or perhaps there would be another flower ready to trick her again. She quickly wondered if all flower Monsters were little imps- but she then feared of coming across as racist if she thought like that.

She rubbed her arm, still walking down the hallway. She preoccupied her mind with little games to keep her brain from delving into things she'd rather not dig into at this time. Like the whole never being able to leave and this being her new home. Or the fact that if she was to live down here that monsters would regularly attack her and her only protection would be Toriel scaring them off with her strange fire magic. Or how she would never see her friends again. Or how she never apologized to that one kid in third grade for trading their pudding with her pudding when they weren't looking. Or-

She blinked, realizing she was starting to sink into those topics. She shook her head, shoving those questions and fears in a tiny box in the back of her mind until she knew, for certain that there was no way out.

There must've been a way to go back to where she belonged.

Frisk watched the pillar silently as she got closer. She walked up to it and saw a certain anthropomorphic goat hiding behind it with her eyes closed. Frisk poked Toriel, hoping to get Toriel to notice her. Instead, Toriel seemed to be nervously ignoring her- No, She must of been lost in thought.

"Toriel?" Frisk murmured softly, curious to why she was hiding. She jumped slightly and looked down at Frisk, a hand over her chest and a smile across her face.

"Oh, my child, you startled me," She responded in a soft, motherly voice. She walked out from behind the pillar and bent down onto one knee as she looked Frisk in the eye. "Thank you for trusting me." Frisk simply nodded. Of course! Toriel saved her, had been so nice to her, and there had been no backstabbing so far- why wouldn't she trust Toriel. In all honesty, Toriel acted a lot like her mother...

Frisk shook away the thought. Not wanting to associate a bad memory with Toriel.

"However, There was an important reason for this exercise." Toriel rubbed Frisk's head softly. "To test your independence."

Frisk raise a brow, confused on on both, how did walking across a hallway prove her independence, and why did she need independence.

"I must attend to some business, and you must stay alone for a while," She explained sadly, sending unpleasant memories done Frisk's spine. "Please stay here, it is too dangerous to explore alone."

Too similar. It was too similar. Frisk looked up at Toriel in a panic, stepping closer to grab her robe, refusing to let her leave. It wouldn't happen again. She wouldn't let it. Frisk shook her head, pulling Toriel's blue robe closer.

Toriel looked down at Frisk with an expression of worry. Frisk could tell she had reacted too much. Now Toriel would definitely leave. Frisk quickly stepped back, looking down at the ground quickly and keeping her hands by her sides, hoping what she had did would be ignored.

"Sorry..." Frisk apologized. She could feel Toriel's gaze boring into her, so she squeezed her eyes shut. Her wrists felt like they were burning.

"It is okay, my child." She reached down and rubbed Frisk's head, kindly. "I have an idea." She then reached into the sleeve of her robe and pulled out an odd, square, black device with a small screen on the front with several buttons and numbers. There even was a cute keychain with a little red heart attached to the phone. "If you need anything, you can call me."

Frisk ran her fingers over the screen, the green text lighting up and highlighting a small menu with several icons attached. She looked up at Toriel, holding up a crooked smile as Toriel rubbed her head and took her leave out of the door.

Frisk took a seat by the pillar, messing around with the menu to pass the time. There was several options to choose from on the menu. She could call someone- as marked by an old telephone, she could look over her own health and status, marked by the silhouette of a small monster that seemed to be a smaller version of Toriel, She also had some settings she could mess with that was marked by a gear, or she could store things, marked by a small... vortex?

Out of curiosity, Frisk unwrapped the bandages on her arms and planned to store them... in her new phone. She pressed the icon and her phone vibrated slightly in her hand and glowed green. Suddenly, the screen had a small, floating ball that left the phone and appeared to be a separate entity entirely. Frisk looked over the glowing ball. It looked to be made of thick, green glass, but the inside seemed to be some sort of strange liquid that moved and flowed around inside of it's glass bubble.

Frisk held up her used bandages and tapped it lightly against the glass bubble of magic. Surprisingly, the bubble indented slightly where she had tapped. Frisk looked curiously, then tried to poke the bubble with her finger. But when she got close, the bubble actually inverted around her hand, letting her hand inside the glass bubble, but not actually touch the bubble itself.

Frisk placed the bandages inside the glass storage, the bubble surrounding the bandages in the liquid, but leaving it in its own air bubble. Frisk curiously returned the glass bubble with her phone, and the bandages disappeared along with it.

Frisk left the bubble storage alone as she messed around with the other features. She checked on her health status and found she had full heath, zero gold, and was at LV one. She messed with the settings a little, changing the text color to red and setting her phone to ring and vibrate in case Toriel called.

She then hesitantly called Toriel. After ringing for several seconds, she heard a click as Toriel picked up.

"Hello? This is Toriel." Frisk heard her voice on the other side of the phone. "Is anything wrong?"

"No." Frisk fidgeted around as she sat. "I was just checking to make sure the phone worked," She told Toriel anxiously. She honestly didn't like using phones. It forced her to talk, and she'd much rather stay quiet. It was a habit she had learned when she was smaller, and it had served her well on the surface.

"Oh, Well, the phone works, I assure you." She explained, then paused. "By the way, Do you prefer butterscotch, or cinnamon?" Frisk blinked at the odd question, and thought it over for a second.

"Butterscotch." She told Toriel.

"Oh! Alright! Thank you!" She then heard Toriel hang up, the dial sound ringing in Frisk's ear. Frisk decided to mess with the setting a bit more, but found her phone shedding ringing once again. She saw it was Toriel and picked up.

"Hello?" Frisk asked softly. She heard Toriel shuffle with the phone for a second.

"Hello! This is Toriel! You do not, DISLIKE cinnamon, do you? I know your preference, but you would not turn up your nose if you saw it on your plate?"

Frisk shook her head, then realised Toriel couldn't see her, and told her Cinnamon is also okay.

"Right! Thank you! Bye, my child."

"Bye mom." Frisk realized her slip up and froze. She shut her eyes, "...sorry." She apologized, then was interrupted by a clearly excited Toriel.

"No no! That's okay, if that's what makes you happy, You can call me whatever you like!" She then gleefully hung up.

Frisk groaned and rubbed her blushing face, embarrassed. Why did she say that? Toriel looked nothing like her mom- why would she even think about that?! She just met Toriel, and yet, at least subconsciously she thought of her as a parental figure in her life.

Frisk tried to think about this logically. Why would she think of a giant goat monster as her mother? Was she truly that desperate for an adult in her life? She had been fine for the past year. Sure, food may of been a little hard to come by, and she may of had to run from a few fights, but that made her stronger... Right? She didn't know anyone her age who liked going to school, so that was a plus. Nobody knew about her... recent...

No, her mom would come back. She was just a little lost at the moment. She would fix herself and come back. That's what she said she would do when she left Frisk on that bench. She... just wasn't ready yet. She'll come back soon enough. That's why she needed to leave. Her mom was waiting for her.

But why did she think Toriel was her mother, at least for a split second?

She sat the new phone down as she looked up at the ceiling of the cave. A frown came over her features as she thought about the sky. Would she ever get to see it again? Or would she be forever stuck over hundreds of miles of rock and stone?

All of these thoughts, her doubts, her worries, everything threatened to claw at her mind. She gritted her teeth in frustration, tears starting to form as she just sat there and just thought of how messed up this all was. She didn't know what to do.

She pushed away those thoughts, locking them back up. Frisk grabbed onto the phone and stood up, her gaze watching the door. She couldn't sit there and wait. If she sat for too long, she'd think too much. And then she'd become a complete mess.

Frisk couldn't do that. She had to go. She had to find a way to escape. Even if it killed her.

Frisk quickly thought that to be overdramatic. Dying seemed a little extreme.

Frisk gripped onto the phone a little tighter, then walked through the doorway.

* * *

I do not own Undertale. Undertale is owned by Toby Fox and can be purchased at his website. Please support the original creator as none of this would be possible without him. Thank you.


	3. Chapter Two

As Frisk stepped into the next room, the purple brick becoming rather grading on her eyes, she noticed that there was two pathways in which she could go down. The closest one to her was a doorway that seemed to lead to a dead end, from what she could gather through the doorway. The second path was a long hallway that turned out of sight within several feet. A rather large amount of leaves seemed to have been piled together in several different bunches scattered across the room. The dried scent of oak coated the room in it's smell, it was nearly overwhelming.

She also spotted two Monsters, one a frog and the other a strange ghost bug, noticeable talking to each other in the center of the hallway.

And then she realized she couldn't fight.

Frisk turned and headed towards the seemingly dead end room at once, hoping that the monsters hadn't been distracted by their conversation enough to see her slinking away.

The room had in fact been a dead end just like she had assumed. There were two small puddles on each side of the room, and a ivory pedestal stuck in the center that seemed to be growing up from the very earth itself. On top of the pedestal was a large bowl too high up for her to reach it.

Frisk quickly assumed this to be a puzzle. Toriel had indeed said that the Ruins were filled with puzzles, so why wouldn't this be one as well? Perhaps this room wasn't a dead end at all, and she could avoid the monsters in the other room via secret pathway.

Of course this didn't solve her inability to fight issue, but it did manage to postpone it a little.

Frisk managed to climb up the pedestal at least high enough to knock off the bowl and send a bunch of candy flying onto the ground.

Frisk waited several seconds, waiting for a secret panel to open, but when nothing happen, Frisk registered that fact that there was a small sign that she had not noticed before laying on the ground with the candy. Frisk read it, and then realized that this room just had free candy in it.

Frisk sussed that she had messed up, possibly ruining the candy for everyone. She immediately picked up the pieces of candy and placed them back into the bowl, and after some climbing she managed to place the candy bowl back on it's pedestal.

And then she realized she was hungry.

It was understandable, she hadn't had breakfast before- honestly she didn't expect to fall down and hole and potentially never see the surface again.

And then she quickly grabbed a candy and put it in her mouth before she could continue down that thought process.

At first, the candy tasted rather nice. It was a little chewy, rather sweet. While she exited the dead end and back to the hallway with monsters, her expression converted from mild enjoyment to disgust. Suddenly there was a slimy feeling down her throat as she chewed. She felt a shiver down her spine as she realized that it tasted like a snail.

She had tried eating a snail before, her friends convincing her that snails were food that the rich people ate all the time. Needless to say, she had gotten rather sick from eating a raw garden snail and she had to suffer on a bench until the snail passed through her system.

The horrid taste combined with the awful memory provoked her to spit out the candy on the ground, using her shirt to try and rub off the revolting flavor.

Her sounds of disgusts managed to catch the two Monster's attention, much to her displeasure as she watched the ghost bug fly closer, shaking violently out of either fear or anger. Frisk hoped it was the former. Frisk took a step back, raising her hands to attempt to show she didn't want to fight, her glowing heart beating through her shirt.

The bug ghost didn't seem to notice her sign of peace as it spun around and released several white moths flying towards her. Frisk 'eeped' softly before ducking underneath the bugs. Frisk raised her hands again.

"Oh no..." It whispered, causing Frisk to lower her hands slightly. This Monster didn't want to fight- Maybe she could somehow convince it to not attack her? She glanced at the frog to see if was sleeping in a pile of leaves.

"Uh- Oh... It's okay!" Frisk place a hand on her chest, her heart glowing from in between her fingers. "I don't want to fight- How about... We just introduce ourselves?" Frisk tentatively requested. The ghost bug looked through Frisk, then quivered.

"...I am... Just a whimsun." The monster then eyed the sleeping frog behind it, then it floated away slightly. "... You're a human... Sorry..." The bug then released another flurry of white months. Before Frisk could dive out of the way, the encircled her in a wall of magic.

Frisk blinked, panicking, at a loss to why being a human warranted being attacked… And then it hit her. Literally. One of the moths flew out and slammed into her shoulder, burning into her skin, causing her to cry out and grab to her injured shoulder.

She was a human- the same people who locked away these monsters underground for eternity. If Frisk was born and raised in a cavern due to her people being trapped- She would most certainly be angry over it. They most likely were convinced all humans were evil. That would also explain why Flowey also attacked.

'Who wouldn't take a chance like this?' Flowey's words suddenly clicking into her mind.

Frisk shook her head, watching as the moths displaced into air.

"I don't want to fight anyone," She explained again. The whimsun seemed to cower at those words, flying back even further. "I fell down-" Frisk looked down at the ground. Her shoulders slouching as she jerked her head back up and looked at the whimsun with a pleading gaze. "I just want to go home," She spoke in a whisper, tears starting to form in her eyes. She was scared... terrified of never getting back to the surface. She didn't belong here with a world of Monsters and magic powers. She couldn't defend herself against magic and she refused to attack anyone. Her only protection were words and a goat monster that reminded her of her mother.

"Please..." Frisk begged the whimsun.

The whimsun then shook violently, backing up even further and shaking it's head. "I- I don't want to fight..." It then suddenly fled down the hallway before Frisk could say another word.

She glanced over at the frog lying in the pile of leaves, it had been watching the battle it seemed. Frisk raised her hands, wishing that it wouldn't attack as well. It croaked at her, then closed it's eyes.

It was letting her pass.

Frisk wasted no time, walking on the opposite side of the hallway in case the frog changed its mind. She kicked through some fall leaves, reminding her of the fall surface above as she held onto her aching shoulder. She looked up at the roof of the labyrinth, her heart aching. She did want to go home. She had just met Toriel, but she had already grown attached- She assumed because she did save her from an evil flower... But she didn't belong here. If her run in with the whimsun was any indication, she couldn't fight- at least normally. Without Tortel around, she was a sitting duck...

She wanted to just go back to the surface. It was at least a little bit less confusing up there, and normally nobody attacked you.

She felt determination flow through her veins. She would make it back up to the surface. She could do this. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other.

As Frisk walked down the connecting hallway to the next area, she noticed she saw a row of spikes ahead, along with a rock and a weighted switch in the middle of the room. Frisk chuckled as she thought of Toriel declaring a rock was too heavy and just doing the puzzle herself.

When Frisk took another step, she soon found herself standing in air. She glanced down for a split second to see the ground had fallen out underneath her and she was going to go on a short trip to the ground. By the time she had processed all of this, she had already hit the leaves and bounced several times.

Astoundingly, Frisk had not hurt herself during the fall- the leaves acting much like the flowers that broke her fall on the way down here. She did, however, have to lay there for a second to catch her bearings that she seemed to have dropped during the fall. Her shoulder complained loudly.

Once she had reaffirmed to herself that she wasn't going to freak out over the sudden fall, she sat up and glanced around. This was another puzzle, she assessed quickly, not letting the possibility of this just being a deteriorating labyrinth that could trap her at any second fill her thoughts. She quickly spotted two vents that blew in chilling fresh air that were both nearly the size of Toriel. She walked over to the one which was in the direction she was going and peeked in, quickly finding that there was ledges on the side of the vent that would be perfect for climbing. Frisk grabbed onto the first one, using her monkey bar and gymnastics climbing skills she had gained when she was around five to pull herself up to the top.

Frisk unceremoniously popped out of the head of the vent and fell on to her face with a small 'oof'.Once she had picked herself up and composed herself, she headed into the room, rather embarrassed about her escape from the pit.

The room was simple in design, with a simple puzzle to boot. Put the rock on the switch. It seemed easy enough- She just had to pick it up and carry it over, easy.

She did feel slight dread over the fact that there was a row of spikes casually hanging out at the end of the room without Toriel there to help guide her. She couldn't of made it past that previous spike puzzle, that was for certain, but this one seemed... manageable...

She wondered if it was timed, or perhaps it was based on a rhythm.

Frisk quickly tried to pick up the rock, but instead she ended up flopping over, the weight being too much for her to lift. She breathed, then tried to lift it again, but to no avail. Her hurt shoulder loudly protested a third time, causing her to wince and grab onto the appendage.

Then noticed a sign hidden in the corner of the room.

'Three out of four rocks recommend you push them!' It declared with much gusto. Frisk snorted at the impossible statistic- you couldn't ask a rock what it's opinion was. But she then realized that she could just... push the rock. With a heave ho, Frisk used her tiny twelve year old muscles to push the rock.

Within several seconds the puzzle was solved and Frisk was heading to the next room, rather happy with her current track record. She could do this- easy!

Frisk suddenly felt her pocket beep and buzz, vibrating against her leg to convince her that she needed to check her phone. She reached into her pocket and saw it was Toriel calling her. She fumbled with the phone for a second, dread overtaking her as she felt the urge to cancel the call in case Toriel had returned and was now freaking out over her.

Frisk picked up the phone,

 _Hello?_

Frisk heard Tortel ask with a rather calm voice- if a little grainy sounding, perhaps bad connection? Frisk nevertheless felt like her nerves were on the edge of their seats. Perhaps she was about to burst out with rage? Frisk hesitantly make a noise of acknowledgement.

 _Ah! For no reason in particular-_

Frisk flinched instinctively, awaiting the verbal smack across the face.

 _Do you prefer cinnamon or butterscotch?_

Frisk blinked.

What…? Didn't Toriel just ask this?...

Frisk breathed out a sigh away from the phone, glad that she wasn't in trouble for not listening yet. She then genuinely thought over the question again, wondering if she was asking to make sure her favorite choice was for certain. She rather enjoyed both flavors in all honesty- but she was unsure which one she liked best. She wasn't even sure what this was for, how could she choose a favorite? Was Tortel perhaps grabbing some candy- perhaps there was another bowl up ahead she was filling with her favorite types for when they go past? If it was candy, she'd rather much have butterscotch than cinnamon.

"Butterscotch," Frisk informed Tortel.

 _I had this odd feeling that you would._ And then a sudden Dial tone alerted Frisk the call had ended. She raised an eyebrow, curious. Of course, Frisk had just answered the question not a few minutes before.

Off went her phone again, not even a second later. Frisk picked up the phone much quicker this time- earning herself a ' _hello!_ ' from Tortel.

"Mmm?" Frisk wondered why she had called again.

 _You do not… Dislike cinnamon, do you?_ Frisk raised an eyebrow, why was she repeating the same thing over again? Perhaps there was a two for one deal on candy at the store- Did they even have stores down here? What if Toriel was making everything by hand? Frisk didn't have any clue how to make either of the candy, but she assumed it must of been hard to do.

"No...?" Frisk responded, wondering honestly what Toriel was cooking up that required her to ask the same question over again... twice.

She was honestly quite confused by this.

 _Oh- Okay! Thank you for being patient, by the way._ Frisk could feel Toriel mentally hug her through the phone, but that hug ended up being much more like a punch to the gut. Frisk winced- her shoulder deciding it was the perfect time to voice its concerns with holding up a phone when it's injured. Frisk carefully put back her phone, murmuring softly on whether she should turn back and wait.

Frisk knew she had two options. She could either continue on and hope to catch Toriel when she's returning and risk getting in trouble for not listening, or she could turn back, wait for Toriel and have to deal with all the questions that would surely pop into her head if she rested for even a second.

Frisk moved on, avoiding her mental frustrations and the urge to turn back. She wondered if it was it even morning anymore. Perhaps it was the afternoon- maybe even night time. Was it past her friend's bed times? The constant light didn't help with telling time. All she really knew was she was hungry...

She wondered if monsters ate the same type of food that humans ate. Toriel did mention sweets, but what about normal food like spaghetti, or hot dogs? What if they ate weird things, like that snail candy before, or only candy? She wouldn't quite mind candy every day- but it it was snail candy, she would pass.

She came across the edge of a pit while fretting about her food issue, several holes scattered across the room leading downwards to a pit similar to as before. Frisk curiously wondered why there was holes already down in the room to the pit below... Maybe it was a puzzle? Or perhaps some other monsters had fallen in by accident? She glanced down one of the closest holes in the earth and saw a pile of jello... hopping around.

Frisk clapped her hands together, wondering if her sanity had disappeared with the snail candy. At least a flower was living- But a pile Jello- not even that- sentient jello. That moved. And probably talked. No matter how hungry she was, she wasn't going to eat a literal giant pile of green jelly.

And then came the question if monsters ate other monsters. She knew some humans ate other humans, but that was usually frowned on. What if a monster are a human? Would that be like eating a fellow monster- or like eating a cow?

Frisk decided not to have that question answered anytime soon for her own saint's sake and walked through the convenient path that was outlined with holes- keeping her from falling down the pit. She wondered if passing monsters constantly ruined puzzles for Toriel- It seemed like there was no obvious fix to a puzzle that had the ground caving in on itself... She then quickly realized there was magic afoot here.

The next room had three rocks in it with three switches. Frisk thought it to be the same puzzle as before- just a little bit more rocks involved. There was a small river running through the end of the room, a bridge running across to the doorway that was covered with more spikes than Frisk could count.

Frisk quickly realized that she could skip the puzzle entirely by just swimming across the river... But then that plan was thrown out the window entirely as her swimming skills consisted of flailing around until someone helped her. She wasn't exactly taught how to swim- And it wasn't a high priority considering she lived in a more city like area- and the only swimming that she could of needed was if she had gone to the pool, or if the city decided to slide over to the ocean for a quick skinny dip.

So, with that plan gone, she headed over to the first stone and pushed it to the pressure plate with only minor complaining from her shoulder. Instead, her legs decided they didn't like a workout and started to hiss at her. She ignored it- then headed to the next rock... Only for her to see it had been... Consumed... by a giant jello blob.

Throwing out the question of how the blob got there in the first place, she watched at the rock floated inside the blob. For some reason she felt pity on the rock as she backed up, the slime monster taking a giant leap forward, it's body wiggling with the rock. She chuckled- realizing how surreal this whole situation was. Here she was- facing off against a giant jello to get a rock to put on a pressure plate to go find a talking anthropomorphic goat that was awful motherly to her.

Her heart glowed red, beating slowly as if it was confused by this situation as well.

If she ever got out, she certainly had quite the tall tale to tell her friends. Her smile dipped as the slime suddenly chucked several white blobs at her. They exploded on the ground, sending a flurry of white blobs at her. She dove for cover behind the third rock, the blobs hitting the rock several times before one came up from behind her and nailed her on her back. She fell over the rock, taking a second to squeeze her eyes shut as pain blossomed over her body, causing her to shake, the magic absorbing into her very skin where it slammed into her- feeling a lot like a stinging sunburn.

She honestly wouldn't mind going swimming right about now.

Hissed as she moved, her shirt pulling against her back. She looked up at the blob, then winced as she put up her hands. "I don't want to fight," She explained, hoping the blob understood English. She didn't understand how if could since it had a rock for a brain. "I just am solving a puzzle- Can I please pass?" She asked politely. The blob wiggled at her several times, then slid closer.

Frisk backed up. The blob didn't speak English- Nor understand it... But it wiggled... Maybe if she wiggled she could send some kind of peaceful message? Frisk decided to test her idea, much to the displeasure of her burning back and she wiggled her hips at the blob. It seemed to pause for a second-

It then went from a watermelon yellow to a bright pink- A blush if Frisk ever saw one. The jello wiggled back at her, much slower and more... seductive... Her eyes widened and she smiled awkwardly, glancing around nervously. Did she just... Flirt with a giant pile of jello?

Well that was something she never thought in her wildest dreams that could happen.

She waited several seconds, relaxing the pink ooze was waiting for a response. Frisk responded by casually pushing against the rock- her back flaring up and tears forming in her eyes as her back and shoulder protested.

She hoped she didn't have many more rock puzzles to do.

Frisk then pointed to the switch, hoping the monster at least understood basic hand gestures. It seemed to watch her for several seconds- although without eyes it was awful hard to tell- but it then hopped towards the switch and down went the spikes. Frisk grinned- although it came out more like a wince as she headed across the bridge and waved to the jello- thanking it for at least helping out once she... expressed her... interest...

Leaving that... interesting experience behind her, she entered a room that was practically a fog of horrendous odor. More specifically, the horrendous odor of spoiled cheese. Frisk didn't waste any time in running past the room- even if her back growled at her. She was not going to solve a puzzle in a room with such a disgusting smell if she could help it. Thankfully the doorway was clear and she rushed through it, not taking a second to look back.

The smell of the previous room did follow her to the next room, but at least it was compared with the much better scent of oak... Although when they clashed it left much to be desired. She saw a literal ghost in the doorway- although instead of it looking like a human that was slightly see through, it looked more like someone tossed a sheet over a lamp and said boo. The ghost was laying down on a pile of leaves, it's eyes closed shut.

However, when Frisk got closer the ghost suddenly opened it's mouth.

"ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ..." The ghost repeatedly said the letter z out loud- as if attempting to imitate sleep sounds... although it wasn't working. Frisk rubbed her shoulder, her back barking at her striped shirt. Frisk waited patiently for the ghost to move, but after several minutes, she spoke up.

"Excuse me," Frisk spoke politely, hoping not to send the ghost attacking. The ghost continued on, seemingly oblivious to Frisk. She decided to wait for the ghost to move rather than possibly cause it to attack.

Frisk tried laying down on her back, but regretted it immediately as her back convinced her that laying on her front was much more interesting. She waited, the ghost slowing down it's forceful Zs to much more confused ones. She crossed her arms, resting her head on the crook of her arm. Her shoulder seemed pleased with this position as it didn't complain, but her back did.

"... This is a family tradition..." The ghost whispered softly from its position on the leaves.

"Mmm..." Frisk murmured back, starting to feel rather tired now that she slowed down. "... What's your name?" She asked curiously after they laid down for several more seconds.

"... Napstablook..." It spoke clearly not confident in it's simple answer.

"I'm Frisk," She introduced herself, turning her head slightly to the side to watch the ghost. Maybe she wouldn't have to get hurt by this Monster?

"... I'm supposed to attack you..." Napstablook explained, yet remained lying down. Frisk wanted to roll onto her side, but she stopped herself.

"Why?" Frisk asked quickly before the monster got up. The ghost seemed to think about this for several seconds, as if debating with itself on what to say.

"... Humans are... Human..." The Napstablook explained vaguely. "...sorry..." It seemed to be apologizing for its vagueness, or its eventual need to attack her.

"It's okay." Frisk looked out at the wall, laying there for several seconds. "Not all humans are humans through." The ghost didn't respond, so she assumed it was waiting for an explanation. "Some humans are different from other humans... Some are bad humans... And some are good humans... And then there's normal humans who are in between..." The Napstablook let out a silent apology before it asked a question.

"... Which humans do I attack then?" Frisk smiled softly at the ghost.

"The bad humans- They attack and hurt others for no reason." She hoped that the ghost would let her pass soon- before she fell asleep.

"... I'm sorry... But... Are you a... Bad human?" The Napstablook enquired sadly. Frisk shook her head.

"I... don't think I am. I haven't attacked anyone down here- even though they've all attacked and hurt me." She paused. "Are you going to hurt me too?"

The ghost looked to be staring intently at the ceiling, as if in deep thought, or thinking of what to say. It finally floated upwards from its spot on the leaves. Frisk pushed herself up, wincing as her back clawed at her spine. She looked up at the ghost with big eyes, hoping they said no.

"...Do you want to see a trick?" It avoided the loaded question. Frisk saw right though it's blunt avoidance, but nodded anyways. They haven't attacked yet- why attack now? The ghost then began to cry, silent tears rolling down it's face and dripping into the floor. Frisk raised her hands to her mouth,quickly going through everything she had done to make sure it wasn't offense to make the ghost cry.

She then saw the tears float upwards and start forming something on the top of it's head. Frisk watched as a watery top hat started to form, and she gasped.

"...I call it "dapper blook"... Do you like it?" Frisk nodded eagerly, standing up to circle around the ghost with interest.

"How did you do that?" She wanted to poke it- but resisted in case it would pop. The ghost smiled weakly.

"... A DJ never reveals their tricks..." The ghost then looked down sadly. "...oh... i'm sorry...that makes no sense..." Frisk wanted to pat it's shoulders and tell the Napstablook that everything would be okay- but from every ghost story she had heard from her friends, you couldn't touch a ghost.

"No no! That makes sense!" Frisk nodded, the ghost looking up at her with sad eyes.

"...I usually come to the ruins to be alone... But today I met someone rather nice..." The Napstablook murmured.

Frisk's eyes widened.

"... There's places other than the Ruins?" She asked. The ghost looked at her with a mix of sadness and confusion. It nodded and Frisk felt like her heart had grown six inches bigger. "Can you show me where to exit the Ruins?" She asked, her mere idea of finding the surface seeming to become more tangible. The ghost paused, silent for second before floating through the doorway and leading Frisk.

The next room had two exits, the ghost looked down at the one in front.

"Over there is the spider bake sale if you're hungry..." Frisk suddenly felt her stomach growl at the mention of food. She nodded, quickly taking the lead as she eagerly went inside, the Napstablook following behind with much less energy

Frisk saw inside there was several spider webs around the room, various food items... attached to the webs. She quickly wondered where the workers were, until she saw a bunch of tiny spiders crawling around, little outfits on them as they walked around.

Frisk then realized she had no money. She turned to the ghost, laughing nervously.

"You... don't happen to have any money on you... do you?" She didn't want to seem like a mooch to some ghost she just met- but her stomach was starting to become a bigger problem then her back. She wondered what time it was on the surface.

"I do... Are you hungry?" The Napstablook probably then heard Frisk's stomach growl. "... Excuse me... I would like to get two spider cookies please..." The ghost told the closest spider scout. One exchange later Frisk was eating two cookies as quickly as possible to quell her grumbling stomach. There was an odd crunch to the cookies- and she assumed them to be slightly burnt.

Napstablook left the spider sale and led Frisk through a hallway that had three frogs hopping around. The all glanced at her, then at Napstablook- who then displaced into thin air without another word. Frisk, realizing she was without a guide, silently screamed in her head as she ran past the frogs entirely before they attacked, missing a sign and going to the next room.

"Napstablook?" She glanced around, panicked over the sudden disappearance of her new friend. "Napstablook? Where are you?"

Then from under the ground she heard a familiar voice. "i'm stuck down a hole..." It could barely be heard through the earth. Frisk followed to where she thought she heard the voice was coming fr-

And then she fell down a hole. She cried out in pain as she landed on her back- shooting up as her back felt like hot fire was melting onto her skin. At least she fell on some leaves rather than the ground, but it still wasn't a pleasant experience. Note to self, avoid jello. Especially sentient ones. She hissed for several seconds, then calmed down, relaxing her tense muscles as the pain dulled. She looked up to see... a switch. She raised an eyebrow, then flicked it upwards- there was even a conveniently placed vent where she was.

After climbing up it and nearly landing on her back, she didn't want to fall down anytime soon. Frisk called out into the room. "You can fly you know!" Then waited several seconds as the ghost floated up from the earth from a hole adjacent to the one she fell down.

She crossed her arms, wincing as her back burned and growled at her. Her pain in her arm was almost unnoticeable in comparison. She was starting to feel frustrated- How many more rooms were there?

"...Sorry..." The ghost looked forlorn over Frisk. She raised an eyebrow at it's apology.

"It's okay..." She sighed, feeling heavy with how tired she was becoming. "I'm just a little tired..." She rubbed her face as she followed the ghost to the next room. This room had three pillars with three oddly colorful mushrooms next to them that each has a small switch on their stems. The room have a turn in the center and-

She suddenly realized she had walked over the grating of spikes without taking a second glance. She felt her body jump out of her skin and watch the grating- each individually large spike hiding inside it's home. What if that had shot up? She took a step back from the grating and breathed. There was a sign close to her, and she walked up to it, curious to what hint/inside joke it would tell her.

'The far door is not an exit. It simply marks a rotation in perspective.' Frisk swore she could tell the sign was tired as well- but then she realized that was silly.

Frisk glanced around the room, trying to get a feel for the layout. It was rather difficult since her view consisted of being close to the ground- and then she mentally face palmed as she realized the Napstablook could help her- it probably solved this puzzle all the time!

"Do you know how to solve this puzzle?" She looked up at the rather depressed looking ghost. It shook it's head sadly.

"I just fly though... Sorry..." They apologized again. Frisk patted the air where the Napstablook was floating.

"It's okay." She glanced around, then spotted something... shiny in the corner of the room. She walked over to it and saw it was some kind of toy knife. Her eyes widened in both confusion of the human made object, and when she realized that she could finally have some form of self defense, even if it was just a weak toy. She picked up the object, examining the toy- noting it was oddly very sharp, even though it was just a toy. Maybe someone had sharpened it artificially? She wondered.

She suddenly felt a chill go down her spine and she felt fear in her veins. Cold, terrifying, and dripped down her spine. She had no clue why she was scared- but she was also determined- but why? She turned around to see Toriel- and Frisk felt the source of her fear shiver and shake.

She wasn't the one moving closer, her new knife raised. She was so terrified of Toriel- but why? Why was she suddenly scared? Toriel was in her way- She had to get past this Monster. She was blocking the exit. She was blocking the way to the surface. She needed to get past Toriel- using whatever method necessary.

She watched her arm move on it's own, tears in her eyes as she saw a long slice go across Toriel's body, cutting her deeply. Toriel looked up at her, utter betrayal in her eyes that would haunt her. Frisk watched as she melted before her, her body turning into dust before her very eyes- leaving more than nothing but a pile of ashes.

She killed Toriel...

And then she was standing, back in her same position as before she saw the knife. Her arms were shaking and tears were spilling down her face. A certain Napstablook was asking if she was okay, then apologizing multiple times. She sniffed, her eyes were dilated and her blood was pumping. Her heart was noticeably glowing through her shirt, and she gripped onto it, trying to calm down her breathing.

... Did that happen?

Frisk looked over at where the knife was before, and saw nothing but empty space. She was shaking. She had to find Toriel. Make sure she was okay.

She moved on suddenly, her friend whispering next to her that she had suddenly just stopped moving and started acting odd. Frisk was confused, thoroughly confused and scared. She wanted to find Toriel- She wouldn't kill Toriel! That's... That's against everything she believed in! She couldn't fight...

The next room did seem to just rotate the room. She saw the same sign as before, then walked up to it, hoping it would distract her from what she had just done.

Maybe she was a monster as well...

'If you can read this, switch the blue switch' Frisk blinked, then looked around, quickly spotting the blue mushroom and walking over. Suddenly, a carrot with a face and a huge bug leaped out from behind the pillar, both gnashing their teeth. Frisk raised her hands, glancing back to see the Napstablook had disappeared again. She grunted, not exactly wanting to get hurt again. Who knew how much longer this went in for? She already had to deal with a magic burn and an aching shoulder- She wasn't sure she could handle another injury.

She felt the cookies from before starting to disappear in her stomach. She was hungry.

She watched as the talking carrot spoke suddenly. "Vegetoid is here for your health," It hissed, causing Frisk the look at it confused. The giant bug glanced over at the vegetable, mimicking the vegetable's gnashing teeth and speaking up as well.

"MIGOSP OBEY THE OVERMIND!" It screeched loudly, glancing back over at the Vegetoid then back at Frisk. She quickly assumed it was possessed and felt a yearning for that knife to defend herself with...

Was that knife even real?

Frisk raised her hands. "I'm... uh..." She glanced around, realizing she probably only had one chance to try and get them to stop attacking. She decided to blurt out the first word she could think of and get ready to run. "Food?"

The Vegetoid grinned at her, sickeningly, and spun around sending a banana at her. She quickly pushed away the question of where he got that banana in the first place and instead caught the food. She watched the bug watching the Vegetoid who was watching her hold the banana. She paused, unsure if she should eat it- but then the growling in her stomach decided for her. She peeled it and took a bite of the food.

This seemed to please the Vegetoid as it dug into the ground and left only her and the Migosp. It looked around for a second, then completely changed it's posture. The bug relaxed, humming slightly as it danced slightly to the beat of it's own drum.

Frisk decided that the bug wasn't going to attack her and relaxed slightly. She looked around the room for the Napstablook, but quickly assumed they had run off again.

She flicked the blue switch like the sign had said, and soft clicking sound echoed through the quiet room. She finished off the banana and held onto the peel until she found a trash can- or maybe things were disposed of with magic?

Frisk sighed as she headed to the next room. She was tempted to just lay down for a quick nap. Frisk saw the room had turned yet again, and she read the sign, this time it declared that she should press the yellow switch. After a quick search through the room, she found the correct switch and flicked it.

Were puzzles really puzzles if they gave you the answers? Frisk asked herself tiredly. She saw the Vegetoid from before in the room idling about. When it looked at her again, Frisk quickly raised the banana peel, the Vegetoid leaving her be, thankfully.

The next room told her to switch a green switch. It was a quick problem solved, and there were no monsters to be seen in this room, thankfully. She rubbed her shoulder and yawned.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw some sort of pathway leading away. Eager for some change, Frisk walked past the fallen leaves surrounding the exit and into the hallway. She looked at a sleeping frog Monster who snored softly next to what seemed to he a doorway to a balcony. She left the monster be, hoping it would not wake and attack her from behind.

She walked into the baloney, her open agape as she stared into the skyline. Building after building, row after row of streets, and entire city laid before Frisk, exposing all of it's glory. It was a magnificent sight as the stone ceiling was carved upwards to mimic the sky above.

The sight was making her homesick...

She gazed into the city streets, noticing a severe lack of monsters, or any life inside the city. Parts of the city were crumbling into the streets, while other fell on top of each other.

The city was abandoned.

Frisk couldn't handle more of the sight. She turned, her back flaring up as she winced... and then she noticed the knife in the corner of her eye.

Her head jerked up, watching the toy knife with wide eyes. Was this real? Frisk walked closer to the toy knife, picking up and examining it's form. The blade was the same as before, the hilt the same color. It had to be the same knife.

She shakily squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to think about the rest of that... what could she even call that? Was she seeing the future? Was she destined to pick up this knife and kill Toriel? Or... Maybe it was just a coincidence? Yeah! It... It meant nothing. It... She was tired- She must of had a silly daydream. It was silly, how could a small toy such as this really kill such a large and powerful monster such as Toriel?

Slowing faking that she had convinced herself it was nothing, Frisk put the knife in her other pocket for safekeeping. It didn't matter what she saw- She needed some protection for when Toriel wasn't around to keep her safe. As her injuries proved, talking did cause her to be hurt...

But it would only be for self defense. If there is no other option. She didn't want to hurt anyone- But... they were always hurting her...

Frisk walked past the sleeping frog and headed up. As she walked the weight in her pocket was heavy. She wondered if it was her imagination. Plastic wasn't very heavy at all- so it probably was just her daydream that was messing with her. Her nerves were shot, her eyelids were heavy, and she certainly didn't feel like anything that was happening was really happening.

Frisk thought of if she did hurt Toriel. The idea burning into her brain with the sheer horror of such an idea. She couldn't... She wouldn't hurt Toriel... Toriel was... was her guardian... In this world there was nobody but Toriel who truly cared about her.

Frisk glanced around for the Napstablook, but found that they were still missing. Frisk frowned, hugging onto her shoulder and glanced downwards. She wondered where they went... Hopefully they were okay- but at least she knew there was a way out of the Ruins. She would just ask Toriel and surely they would help lead them to the surface. She passed the still dancing bug and headed to the next room, exhausted both mentally and physically. Her back stung, her legs cried, her shoulder barked and her eyelids were heavy. She was beat.

The room was scattered with red leaves and the heavy scent of smoke and oak filled her nose. Her feet crunched against the leaves as she looked up at the charred tree before her. The tree was most certainly dead- it's bark was completely black without a trace of normal brown on it... unless that was what trees looked like down here. She paused as she heard a voice that made her want to cry.

"...Dear, that took longer than I thought it would." Frisk turned around the dead tree, watching Toriel pull out a cell phone and start keying in some numbers. She felt like her heart was going to explode. She didn't kill Toriel. Toriel was okay. Tears started to drip down her face in large clumps, falling down her cheeks and dropping off of her chin and being absorbed into her striped shirt.

Frisk didn't let her finish dialing as she ran to Toriel and grabbed onto her robe with a cry. Toriel looked down, clearly shocked by the sudden appearance of the child, let alone then crying into her robe. Frisk rubbed her head into the robe, not letting Toriel leave again.

"How did you get here, my child?" Toriel bent down, causing Frisk to let go of her robe. Instead Frisk dove for her shoulder, crying into her white fur. She should've just listened to Toriel- Now she was going to be in trouble. Frisk felt Toriel hug her, her back clawing at her nerves at the sudden touch. She grabbed onto Toriel's fur tighter, whimpering softly between sobs. "Are you hurt?" Frisk didn't answer, she was too busy clinging to Toriel's neck in hope that she didn't suddenly turn to dust.

Toriel carefully lifted up Frisk, letting her hold onto her neck as she cried. Toriel rubbed the child's head, trying to calm her down. "Shhh...There, there, I will heal you." Toriel turned, heading back from where she had went. "It's okay my child, you're safe now." She cooed calmly, Frisk's loud sobs turning into much more reserved snivel. "I should not have left you alone for so long... It was irresponsible to try to surprise you like this." She sighed, Frisk rubbed her face into Toriel's fur apologetically for killing her.

Toriel carried Frisk up to a cute, tidy house. Frisk was looking sorrowfully at Toriel, sniffing softly as she lessened her grip slightly on Toriel's fur. The scent of pie bucked Frisk in the nose, allowing her stomach to loudly grumble at it's mere banana and cookies to eat. The snail candy didn't even count.

Inside the house Frisk saw a simple room before her. There were two doorways on both sides of the room, and some stairs with a guardrail leading downwards to what she assumed to he a cellar of some kind. In the upper right corner of the room was a small bookshelf with an unlit candle beside it. A vase with some strange flowers that she had never seen before sat in the opposite corner while a mirror hung over the stairs. The ground had birch flooring and the room was painted a pale tan. For some reason, she felt odd nostalgia flood her. The smell of something cooking helped her from her tired daze.

"Do you smell that?" Frisk nodded at Toriel, Causing her to smiled purely. "Surprise! It is a butterscotch-cinnamon pie!" She told Frisk, causing her watery eyes to widen. So that's what the question was for! Still didn't explain why she asked twice, but still, one step at a time. "I thought we might celebrate your arrival, I want you to have a nice time living here...So I will hold off on snail pie tonight." She chuckled as Frisk gagged at the thought.

Toriel carried her down the hallway on the right and to the door of a simple room. The hallway was painted a soft yellow and various plants were scattered throughout the hallway. A small side table sat next to the door we were waiting at, that held up a red flower. Small, unlit candles were attached to the wall at various points of the room, and an oriental rug hugged the ground underneath Toriel.

"I have another surprise for you." She opened the door, revealing a small child's room that was painted red. A small bed with a box of toys sat in front. Next to the bed was a small cabinet that Frisk assumed was filled with clothes. Stuffed animals sat on the bed neatly together, and a red rug adorned the floor. Two lamps sat in the room, one next to the bed and the other on the opposite side near a chest of toys.

"A room of your own." Frisk was baffled, shocked, and confused all at the same time. She was happy, she had her own room- Something that she had. Something she could come home to... It wasn't just a simple bench, it had toys and a bed and even lamps! It was amazing!

But... This wasn't her world. Now that she knew there was a way to go home- She had to find a way to go back. Her burning back reminded her she didn't belong. She never would be able to fit into this world, she was human, those who locked away the monsters down here. She didn't belong here- and the monsters would always see her as a monster as well. She couldn't protect herself- Although she could apparently protect herself from Toriel... and that ended rather sourly.

"I hope you like it!" Frisk smiled softly, resting her head on Toriel's shoulder as she looked at it with bittersweet feelings. Frisk suddenly felt Toriel's snout sniff. She looked up curiously as Toriel asked "Is something burning?" Frisk glanced around, then suddenly found herself being carried out, back through the hallway, past the entrance to the house, past what seemed to be a living room and into a kitchen. She felt herself be placed on top of the kitchen counter and watch Toriel slip on some cookie gloves and take out the pie she had talked about before.

Frisk glanced around the kitchen, the simple design of it reminding her of old commercials she used to see on TV when she was with her mother. She vaguely remembered that it had a catchy tune, but she was unsure of what it was selling.

Frisk watched the pie, rather intimidated on how large the pie was. She couldn't eat that big of a pie in a million years, although with such an delicious scent, she might try. "It has to cool off before we can eat it." Toriel explained, putting her mittens on the counter next to the pie. Frisk nodded, then felt Tortel pick her up again and carry her to the room before the kitchen.

The room looked like a hybrid between a living room and a dining room. A table was set up at the end of the room for two adults and a child, a decorate plant on top. Toriel sat herself in a brown armchair next to the golden fireplace. A warm bookshelf remained next to the fire place with some tools for tending the fire in the corner. Frisk found herself sitting in Toriel's lap, the back of her head resting against Toriel's shoulder as Toriel picked up a book that had a lot of facts about snails and put on some reading glasses.

Frisk read the book with Toriel for several minutes, leaning various facts about snails, such as how bad at being shoelaces they were, but Frisk soon found herself curled up in Toriel's lap, hugging onto her fluffy, white arm as her eyelids started to droop. She struggled to keep them open for several minutes, caught in a sleeping haze in between sleep and awake, Her mind wandering over the various topics that haunted her.

Her possible inability of never going home, the consistent reminder of her own mother, the knife sunk into her pocket, the image of her slicing Toriel and her turning into nothing but dust, her failure to keep Napstablook around, all the Monsters attacking her, even though they didn't want to, the unknown surrounding everything, her own emotions flaring and receding at random, the potential of her dying down here and nobody ever missing her, her inability to tell how long she will be down here already, and her soul crushing loneliness from being unable to relate with any of these monsters around her. Would she never see another human again? Where was she supposed to go? What was she supposed to do now?

She didn't know. She didn't know anything, so instead she closed her eyes, trying to sleep away all the thoughts as tears ran down her face and soaked into Toriel's fur as her mom gently rubbed her head.


	4. Chapter Three

She looked down at her stomach, soft crimson bleeding out as a bone protruded from her stomach. She was confused. Why was she bleeding? She didn't bleed. Others bled. She won. Her gaze slipped over to her knife, across the tile floor and broken, the edge of the blade covered in dust and shattered. She tisked. She didn't need that old thing anyways. She could win with her bare hands.

Her hand reached down to the bone to pull it out, only for a different hand to pull at her arm, keeping it away from her goal. She looked up to see... Frisk, shaking her head solemnly. She looked so exhausted, her hair was greasy, her gaze was glossed over with the tears that commonly collected under her eyes during these times. Her arms were bruised and cut, the blood of her wounds seeping into the tile and staining the floor red.

Please...

She needed to pull out the bone, she had to keep going! This was the only way! Why was the other human fighting over this? Why now? They were so close. So close to what Frisk wanted. She jerked her hand away from the other half. It was too late now.

Frisk's eyes sluggishly blinked open as the scent of something sweet haunting the room like a ghost. She slowly took in the sight of a strange, red room around her, the confusion of what was going on cascading away with the memories of the room Toriel had shown her earlier. She sat up, stretching and letting out a deep yawn as she sleepily looked around the simple bedroom, the smell of pie inviting her to slowly get up.

She glanced down at the feeling of the weight in her pocket. Reaching down, she pulled out a toy knife; She vaguely remembered a knife in her dream, and somehow there being two of her, but the dream was already starting to float away into obscure thoughts. She watched the plastic for a second, tracing her finger across the dull edge. This knife... It was just a simple toy. Surely it couldn't be that dangerous. It was meant for children to play with, so surely, even if Frisk was forced to fight, she couldn't do that much damage to these monsters with such a small toy. It was a distraction at best. An empty threat that could be used to flee.

She grimaced, her stomach aching quietly for something to be put in it. She picked her knife, swinging her legs over the bed, ready to start the day with a smile on her face, despite the dream she had.

And then she remembered the day she had been having.

Part of her wanted to throw the blanket back over her head and avoid anymore confusion and potential fights that could arise for that day, afternoon, night maybe? She wasn't sure of the time. Maybe if she just stayed in the bed and didn't get up, no more monsters would want to attack her and she wouldn't have to see anymore images of her killing Toriel. No more magic, no more getting hurt, seemed like fun.

But she then realized that if she did that, she would never find a way home. She would be stuck in this bed for all eternity out of fear of the unknown. She had dealt with the unknown many times before, and it had never defeated her so far, but this was an entirely different monster. This unknown had an entire different set of rules that she couldn't possibly begin to understand. Magic, monsters- real ones that wanted her dead, and no easy way out. A combination that could only end badly in her eyes.

But she also had Toriel... And Napstablook if she found them again. She also had managed to talk the monsters out of fighting. Perhaps, she would never have to fight at all! She could just talk her way out of fights.

But... That couldn't work for every monster... would it? What if they wanted her dead? What if she had no way to talk them out of it? What if she ran across another Flowey? What if there was a monster worse than Flowey that Toriel couldn't shoot off with a fireball?

Frisk mumbled and struggled to kick off the blankets that had managed to become wrapped around her body, she had to get up at least. She eventually succeeded by rolling onto the floor and standing up, the red blanket slipping off and leaving her in the room, colder than before. Frisk noticed that she was still wearing her clothes from yesterday- Or maybe it was still today? She was unsure. The constant light messed with her internal clock. She noted her clothes were a little dirty, and mentally reminded herself to ask Toriel how she cleans her clothes. Probably magic, but Frisk still didn't know for sure.

She stretched again, noticing her back was no longer burning, and her shoulder was perfectly fine as well. She guessed a good night's rest really did heal all that messed with her... Unless Toriel had healed her when she was asleep in her lap. The only problem was her stomach, that had decided it was the perfect time to help her know she was hungry again with a soft gurgling noise. She murmured and looked around the room, her hand patting her stomach sympathetically.

She quickly noticed a plate in the center of her room, the odd pie and sweet scent from before making sense as she tilted her head and walked over, lifting up the pie slice and examining it. It was rather cold, But other then that it looked perfectly fine to eat. Frisk sat down next to the plate, taking a bite of the cinnamon-butterscotch pie to help quell her ravenous appetite. She soon found herself stuffing the entire pie in her mouth without any self control.

After she finished licking the plate, she was tempted to leave the room but she ended up hesitating. What if there were monsters that were roaming around? Toriel was the sort of 'ruler' of the ruins, so monsters would have to come to her to solve problems. Unless the monsters didn't need a ruler... they could all just be self sustaining. But how would that work? She remembered the spiders, curious to how currency really work- Frisk quickly decided to avoid the thought of monster politics and economics as the only answers lied beyond the door, and she didn't quite feel like leaving the room yet.

Frisk rummaged through the various toys that had been left in the toy box at the front of her bed. Lots of dolls in the shapes of various monsters that Frisk had never seen before were stuffed together. Some were skeletons, the others were lizards, fish, ghosts, goats, and everything in between. There was even a little king with a little crown and a happy, smiling face stitched on. Frisk took out the toys, curious to what kind of monsters roamed the lands. They weren't labeled, and most of them looked like the vague shapes of monsters rather than anything high quality. Maybe these were collectables, or maybe Toriel made them? They were all rather small, maybe the size of her hand. She lolled around one goat monster, its head flopping to and fro with its tiny ears. A few of them seemed to have ripped before, but we're sewn back together less then expertly, as if done quickly to not get caught.

Frisk spread out the little monsters, separating them from each other. As she looked over some of them, she felt an unfamiliar, cold sensation grab her heart and pull it to her stomach. She lifted one of the skeletons, a stereotypical smile sewed onto its bony face, her own smile sinking as she stared into its dead eyes. She sat it down, away from the others in case it would contaminate the others with its weird feeling. One after the other, she separated each of the monsters who gave her that uncomfortable feeling to the normal ones. Her pile slowly growing until it consisted of A fish, a lizard, two skeletons, a spider, and three goats- one of them being the little guy wearing a crown.

Frisk put the rest of the monsters back, leaving out her pile as she studied them, wondering why when she looked at them, did they fill her with such dread. It made no sense. There was no pattern, it was just an odd assortment of monsters. Maybe she was scared of them on some kind of subconscious level, or maybe she felt angry at these stuffed animals in particular. She wasn't sure though. Either way, she was just left with a small pile of stuffed animals and a whole lot of confusion.

She ended up taking them with her. She stored them away in her phone, all of them in one giant pile in the storage just floating around together. She felt this strange urge in her gut. She just had to store them away. Get them out of her sight. Hide them away so she didn't have to see them again.

Once she was finished putting her phone away after changing the color on her phone to a different, less difficult on the eyes red, Frisk was once again tempted to leave the room, but she decided to go to the closet instead to busy herself with trying to get different clothes that were less dirty.

Most of the shirts hung up were a different version of her own shirt, but in different colors and with one fewer stripe. Scarves for the cold, long pants and little pink mittens were folded neatly in the drawers underneath. Why were there so many winter clothes... and why were they all her size? Frisk remembered the thought that perhaps Toriel knew she was coming, but she pushed it away as the idea was ridiculous.

Frisk decided that the ruins weren't nearly cold enough for such winter gear and it seemed that there wasn't anything lighter for her to wear in this closet, so she decided to just wear her current clothes for now and ask Toriel how she cleaned clothes later.

She messed with the light next, avoiding the door at all costs. She turned the lamp on and off several times, amusing herself with it for several seconds as she wondered if they used electricity or magic, but stopped after she noticed a small, dusty picture frame. Frisk used her thumb to rub off some of the dust so she could see the picture better, but it didn't help as it seemed the dust was inside the frame itself. From what she could tell from behind the dust that the picture inside was faded horribly, whoever had been photographed was just a simple black and white outline of who they used to be.

She wiped off the dust on her hands on her pants, leaving a gross, black mark on her shorts. She rubbed it more, and the dust spread further down her pant leg but at least the color was less black.

With nothing left for her to do in the room to distract her from leaving, she felt her body walking over to the door and her hand held over the doorknob as she thought over it. She could hide in here forever, or go out and find that exit the Napstablook had spoke about. Frisk curiously wondered if Toriel knew about an exit. She did seem to know everything in the Ruins. Maybe she could ask Toriel. Maybe Toriel could even come with her to find an exit to the human world! Perhaps Toriel could even come with her to the surface!

The idea quickly quashed any fears that fluttered around in her stomach. She eagerly left the room, excited to find Toriel and escape, perhaps Toriel would even be able to scare of the monster's past the exit. She searched through the hallway, through the house and around the kitchen for Toriel. But she was nowhere to be found. She wanted to go into the basement but the door to it was locked...

Where was Toriel?...

She couldn't have...

Oh no...

Frisk felt her legs quake as she immediately dug into her pockets, pulling out her phone and fumbling with the menu until she saw Toriel's number quietly sitting on the screen. She held her thumb over the call button, her eyes searching the phone for answers to her questions.

Was she being too paranoid? Too needy? What if Toriel got mad at her for bugging them when they were busy?

Frisk gripped her phone a little tighter, then pressed call.

She needed to know if Toriel was there.

Frisk silently listened to the dull ringing noise, her heart sinking a little more with each passing second. Her hands felt clammy and she hated how worried she kept being. The constant ringing caused her to rock back and forth on her toes, her mouth dry.

"Hello?" Toriel's voice sounded like a rainstorm in a desert, shocking but never unwanted. Frisk breathed with relief, then blinked, her mouth opening and closing for several second, unsure of what to excuse this call as.

"I woke up... and you were gone," Frisk explained honestly, hoping that it didn't sound offensive or rude. She heard Toriel pause, then chuckle softly.

"Yes, I simply had to run a few errands. I did not expect you to wake up so soon my child. I will be back as soon as I can, There are a few books in the living room you may read to pass the time, and there are toys in the toy box for you to play with," She explained. Frisk could hear mute voices in the background making small whispers too soft for her to make out the words.

Frisk nodded, then realized that Toriel could not see her.

"Okay, Thank you," Frisk replied plainly. A click could be heard and Frisk listened to the dial tone for several seconds before putting away her phone in her pocket. She stood there for a second, staring at the floor blankly.

She... wasn't mad at her.

A grin seeped over Frisk's features as she giggled happily, following Toriel's advice, she went to the bookshelf in the living and dining room, glancing over a few of the books, her smile stretching slightly at the titles. She would read the biggest and best book she could find.

Or... She would try. Her reading skills were subpar at best. Her teachers had said she was just running a little behind, it was normal for kids her age to be struggling sometimes with reading. They said she should have her parents reading with her to help her get better, but that didn't work out so well before, so she had to rely on herself to teach her how to really read the best she could.

Frisk found the thickest book two shelves up from the ground, the spine itself thicker than her arms and the color a faded blue. She managed to drag it from the shelf to the edge using her hands, then when it was on the edge, she tipped it over so that it would fall into her arms.

The plan didn't work as it was supposed to. Instead the book was much to heavy for her and she only managed to keep it from hitting the ground by cushioning it under her body. Needless to say, her torso did not like this very much. Frisk was able to push the book off of her body, rubbing her side meekly, but now she needed to put it on a table.

Frisk dragged the book near the oval table close to the kitchen doorway, then quickly found that she couldn't even pick up the book without potentially popping her arms out of her sockets. She opted to instead hide under the table with her book right under the smallest chair. Frisk winced, hoping the book didn't break as she flipped it open to the center. After checking the spine of the book hadn't snapped from the sheer weight of turning the pages, she started to read.

"Trapped behind the... barrier and... fearful of further... human attacks, we retreated." Frisk huffed, upset at how choppy her voice was when reading. She always sounded like this. Her mind was never fast enough to read. She forced herself to continue, as much as she struggled. "Far... into the earth we walked, until we reached the caverns end. This was our new home, which we named... Home." Frisk flipped the page, seeing the familiar setting of the abandoned city she had seen before in the ruins, except this city was much less ruined and filled to the brim of the silhouettes of monsters. "As... great as our king is, he is lousy... with names."

She remembered the stuffed monster in her phone's storage with the little crown.

Frisk turned the page, only to find the next portion had been ripped out. Curious, she continued forward in the book only to find the rest of the book was just a glossary and where to find specific words in the story. Confused, she turned to the front of the book, but found specific pages ripped out, making the rest of the book make no sense without the rest of the story. She quickly worried that she had somehow ruined the book, but recognised that she would of seen the pages fall out if this were true.

She sighed, unhappy that she couldn't continue with the story, and managed to push the thick but useless book across the room and back to the front of the bookcase.

Frisk left the book there, opting to return to her reddish room to definitely not pout for not getting to read the entire book herself. After crawling back into the bed and wrapping herself up into a little Frisk burrito, she didn't pout for a half an hour by herself over not being able to finish the story. She eventually grew bored of not pouting, so she followed Toriel's other advice and messed with the remaining stuffed animals, pretending they were all on an island and were building a boat to get off the island because there was no TV reception. She wasn't playing with them though. She was a big kid, and as such, she didn't play with toys. She was just doing what Toriel asked. It was only polite.

When Frisk heard the soft creaking of the front door, her mind immediately thought of the monsters. Toriel wasn't home and now the monsters were coming. She quickly put away the stuffed monsters in the toy box with the pillow she was using as the ship- then attempted to crawl into the box as well, using the pillow to cover her head. Sadly, the toy box didn't close all the way with the red pillow sitting on top, leaving the top of the box cracked open slightly.

She sacrificed the stuffed monsters to the living monstrosity and apologized to the inanimate objects for her selfishness. She managed to push herself to the bottom of the box without flipping the lid by some sort of a miracle, and then attempted to quell her fast beating heart. She pushed the stuffed monsters around so she could have room to breathe around her head, the smell of cotton and old toys making her breath hitch.

Frisk heard the door to her room open, and she held her breath, pushing her hand against her mouth as she attempted to be as quiet as possible. The monster was in the room. They knew she was here.

Frisk attempted to silence her breathing as she listened to heavy footsteps in the doorway, the air becoming significantly more heavy with each step. The scent of the outside ruins escaped into the room, contaminating the air with its oak like scent. The monster stepped around the toy box, and she heard the bed's blanket lift into the air. She could only see the dog stuffed animal in front of her eyes, blocking her vision of the monster. Her fingers itched against her sides, the pressure not helping as the area around her began to grow uncomfortably hot.

"Frisk?" She heard the motherly voice call her name, worry present in her voice. Frisk meanwhile felt the exact opposite. Nothing but thankfulness and relief flooded her brain, causing her to let out the breath she had been holding. Frisk pushed the stuffed animals around, poking her head out from the toy box.

The lid flipped open, revealing Toriel, a paw placed on top of her heart as she breathed out with a sigh. Frisk waved to the monster from inside the toy box, and Toriel giggled softly. "My child, what are you doing inside the toy box... and with a dog on top of your head?" Frisk glanced up, seeing indeed a small, white dog stuffed monster was calmly sleeping on top of her head, perfectly content to just lay there. Frisk herself snorted and picked up the stuffed dog, setting it back in the box.

"I was hiding." Frisk climbed out of the toy box, careful to not step on the stuffed monsters. "I thought a monster..." Frisk paused, realising a monster did come through the door, Toriel is a monster, but a nice one who gives pie and protects her from the other monsters, until she has to go do chores. "A monster that wanted to hurt me came through the door." Toriel's expression was unreadable for a second, it seemed that a small debate had ran through her mind as expressions of guilt and conflict crossed her face, but before Frisk could comment Toriel smiled softly, if a little solemnly.

"Do not worry my child, even when I am not here, no monster would ever come into this house, you are safe when you are here," Toriel explained softly, The human curiously wondered why that was so, but then realized most humans wouldn't break into other people's houses, so why would monsters? Part of her wanted to make a snide comment; of course monsters would break into houses, they're monsters, but she pushed it away, unsure of where that comment came from. "Now, I have some food I must put away, would you care to join me?"

Frisk nodded, a grin on her face as she followed Toriel to the kitchen, noticing that there was a sudden abundance of food littering the counters. All sorts of strange foods such as leafy greens, apples, strange squares of grass, corn, and a bunch of salt and sugar cubes in tin boxes. In addition to these products, when Frisk opened the cabinets, she found they all held a variety of odd foods such as a strangely large amount of candy and many sweet products akin to syrup and candy and a lot of material for baking pies of all kinds- although there was an abundance of ingredients for a specific 'Snail pie'

That kind of pie sounded horrible.

Frisk ended up eating an odd, crunchy candy that tasted like some sort of cinnamon flavor as she watched Toriel organize the fridge. Frisk had tried to help a little bit by handing her food but she ended up dropping the eggs on the ground, much to her own disappointment. Toriel then insisted she just sit on the counter and watch.

She said the human was still learning how things worked around here, which then caused Toriel to try and explain the technology and magic that went into making the fridge... did she not think fridges were made on the surface? They didn't exactly have magic to keep them cold, but it was the same principle, right?

After hearing about the mechanics of magic, which she thought would be a lot more interesting than it sounded, Toriel had gone back to putting away food in every nook and cranny she could fit. Frisk watched Toriel struggle to fit some ingredients for cinnamon buns beneath the remaining pie from today- Or yesterday? Frisk wondered if she had slept through the night, or if she had just taken a light nap. In fact, she had a lot of things to wonder about... Frisk hummed softly, rubbing her chin as she thought over the list of questions that had ran through her mind over the past day... Or the past few days, depending on how long she had slept.

"What is ailing you, my child?" The anthropomorphic goat questioned.

"... I'm confused on some things..." Frisk admitted, feeling rather embarrassed about just how confused she was.

"Well, I am here to answer such questions, What seems to be confusing you?" Toriel stepped back from the fridge. Even when sitting on the counter, Frisk still didn't even come close to the monster's height.

Frisk paused, deciding on one of the first, and easiest questions she had thought of after falling down. "How is there light in the Ruins?"

"That is my work, my child, Magic has been embedded in the walls to give off light so nobody in the Ruins is blind." Toriel explained, then suddenly grinned widely. "If you like, I could give you a... TuTorial." She giggled.

Frisk didn't get it.

"No, thank you, it would probably confuse me even further." Toriel's grin fell into more of a lopsided grimace.

She quickly cleared her throat, "Er- well, do you have any other questions?" She then picked up a box of sugar cubes and casually opened them.

"How did you already have that dummy, and the entire room set up?" Frisk questioned. Toriel's gaze looked rather solemn for a moment, long enough for Frisk to see the question bothered Toriel. Frisk winced, ready to apologize before Toriel spoke up.

"Humans have fallen down here before, my child." Toriel answered vaguely, causing Frisk's head to tilt curiously.

"Where are they?" Frisk asked before she could think of the possible repercussions the question could rise. She immediately saw Toriel's paw tighten around the tin box, reminding her just how powerful Toriel was when compared to her. Frisk's eyes widened as she realized that the humans could very well have not survived Flowey- Or maybe another monster...

"My child, you are better off not knowing what events befell those humans," The monster answer briskly, the subject dropping quickly into silence. Frisk left the sleeping subject lie, changing it to one that was much lighter.

"Did you make those toys in the room?" Frisk asked, leaving out the strange feeling some of them gave her as that seemed to be much more of a personal problem. Toriel nodded, putting away the tin box of sugar cubes that now was partially melted.

"Yes, my child. I had sewn them together back when I was much younger," She explained softly.

"How old are you?" Frisk kicked her feet out, curious to see if she could figure out how long monsters lived to be. This caused her to chuckle.

"Hasn't anyone told you not to ask a lady her age?" Frisk blinked.

"No."

Toriel rolled her eyes playfully, "Well, let's just say I'm much older than you." Frisk nodded.

"So, you're at least 30," She guessed, causing Toriel to laugh.

"You flatter me, my child." She placed her paw on her chest. "Try adding a little bit more to that."

"35?"

"Hehe, Try a little bit older."

"Are you..." Frisk rubbed her chin. "50?"

"I assure you, my child, I am nowhere close to that number." Toriel chuckled. "That's enough about my age though, maybe ask again a different time, I'm going to really start feeling old if we continue."

"Alright." Frisk hummed. "How old do you think I am?"

"Hmm..." Toriel thoughtfully mimicked the human's hum, leaning against the open fridge as she tapped her finger on her chin. "Well, you're a little one, that's for sure."

Frisk crossed her arms at the comment. "I'm not that little."

"You are when compared to me." Toriel reached out her large paw, patting the child warmly. Frisk wrapped her arms around the monster's arm, trapping it.

"But you're a million years old! You got me beat by a few years." Toriel paused from putting away of food to scoop up the human in a quick cradle hold. Frisk eeped, grabbing onto Toriel's arm tighter with a sudden influx of fear.

"Now let us hold on a second, I may be a little old, but I'm not that old," The monster chuckled, lifting Frisk into the air further. Frisk kicked her feet uselessly in an attempt to free herself, but she remained in Toriel's cradle hold.

"You're older then me!" Frisk finally retorted, sticking out her tongue childishly. Toriel huffed, sticking her nose up in the air and setting the human down on the counter.

"Well, I guess a certain someone will not be having pie tonight." Frisk gasped, letting go of the monster's arm as she looked up at her with big, pleading eyes.

"I take it back, you're 50 again." Frisk leaned forward, grabbing onto Toriel's dress.

Toriel remained with her stern expression for a second, her eyes occasionally glancing at the puppy eyes of Frisk. They remained in that position for several seconds until Toriel suddenly reached over, scooping up Frisk again with a wide grin on top of her face.

"Oh no, I've captured you!" Frisk cried out with laughter as Toriel carried the human into the living room. Frisk felt the both of them fall onto the soft rocking chair Frisk had falling asleep in before, both of them in a fit of giggles as she attempted to flee from the monster trying to tickle her. They continued for seven seconds, before settling back down, just sitting there enjoying each other's company. Frisk breathed out a sigh, her wide smile sinking into a much smaller one as she rested against Toriel's torso.

Toriel suddenly spoke, saying something completely off the wall. "It feels strange, sometimes I feel as if I've known you before..." She smiled softly.

Frisk felt her brow cease, confused. Known her before? Frisk shrugged.

In all honesty, she wouldn't mind living with Toriel in a nice, tiny home such as this one for a while. There was plenty of food, Toriel seemed to genuinely like her, and she had her own room to play it, even if the toys were rather old and dusty. It seemed almost like the perfect situation she had dreamed of for so long...

But... no matter what she believed, she wouldn't ever feel safe down here with all sorts of monsters running around that wanted to hurt her. She had already gotten hurt from them, and it seemed that they would be content with just ending her right then and there. Toriel was just one truly nice monster in an entire world that wanted her dead for reasons they wouldn't explain... She had managed to talk most of the monsters out of ending her, Flowey being the exception in this situation, but what happens once she does find the exit Napstablook was talking about? It can't possibly get easier after this. That's just not how it worked.

Frisk turned her head from watching the fireplace to look up at Toriel with large eyes. This managed to catch the monster's attention as she looked down at her, curiosity in the goat's eyes.

"Do you have more questions?" Toriel asked, a soft, but accepting smile sitting across her face. Frisk sighed.

"What happens if a monster hurts me?"

Toriel seemed to have been taken aback at the question, her eyes widening slightly before she relaxed. Perhaps she had not expected such a small child would think about such things.

"My child, no monster will hurt you when I am around," She explained, a saddened smile sitting across her features.

"What if you aren't around to protect me?" Frisk looked hesitant. Toriel's expression matched.

"Then you shall be inside the house, protected from them," She explained softly.

Frisk looked downwards, silence overtaking the room as she thought over what the implications of such a life were. "What happens when I'm older? Am I going to stay in this house my whole life?" Frisk looked up at Toriel. She liked Toriel, but she would surely go mad if she stayed in one house, never leaving or having any interactions with anyone other then her possible parental figure.

Toriel winced slightly, most likely realizing what Frisk had. "At least you'll be safe." Frisk blinked.

"Safe from what?" She pressed. Toriel's gaze slipped away from Frisk's eyes.

Silence.

"Is there an exit?" Toriel's head jerked around, her fur raised slightly in shock.

"Who told you that?" Toriel leered, her slightly red eyes searching through the human's, as if looking for the truth of what the human wanted.

"One of the monsters said there was a way to leave the Ruins," Frisk explained, "I talked like you said I should to get out of fights, it mostly worked."

Toriel stared at the human for several seconds, another debate seemingly ranging into her mind. She sighed. "My child, I need to put away the rest of the food. Can we please talk about this another time?" Toriel looked at Frisk, a sudden exhaustion appearing over her features. Frisk nodded, getting off Toriel's lap and letting her walk away.

And in the exact opposite direction of the kitchen.

"Toriel?" Frisk whispered, confused on why she was going the wrong way. She hopped off the couch, following behind Toriel as she walked down to the basement, opening the door with some sort of magic. "Toriel- Wh-"

"Go to your room," Toriel growled at Frisk. Toriel growled! She actually, physically let out a growl! Frisk waited for several seconds, watching Toriel walk through the door and head further down the rabbit hole.

What- what on earth is she doing? Frisk pushed past the open door, determined to figure out what Toriel was going. Toriel never acted like that before...

"Toriel! Wait- What's going on?" Frisk slowed slightly, staring at the endless hallway that lay before her, the grading purple brick lining the hallway. Frisk rushed to catch up, Toriel stopping in the middle of the hallway.

Frisk could see the fire magic burning off of her.

"So, you want to go 'home', do you not?" Frisk heard Toriel speak and for the first time ever since the monster healed her from Flowey, Frisk was terrified. Her mouth opened, but her voice suddenly disappeared. She was scared. Honest to God shaking in her shoes, hands clamping, eyes widening, pupils dilating, scared.

"Up ahead lies the end of the Ruins." Felt her mouth go dry. "A one-way exit to the rest of the Underground."

One-way. Why did it have to be one-way? Frisk watched Toriel, her shoulders shaking as she struggled to form words. One-way. No turning back. Frisk would have to choose the surface, or Toriel.

Oh dear god.

Frisk gripped onto the front of her shirt, her soul aching.

"I'm going to destroy it." Frisk felt her soul drop into her stomach. "Nobody will ever be able to leave again." She took a step back. "Now be a good child and go upstairs." She had just found out this was her own, one-way route to escape... and the monster who had been protecting her this whole time was going to destroy it.

Why...

Frisk needed to stop her. She ran, grabbing onto the fabric of Toriel's dress with a silent plea that this didn't cost her life. She pleaded with Toriel, staring up at the monster with tearful eyes. This was the same creature who gave her pie, who she had fallen asleep against, who not five minutes ago was playing with!

Frisk felt Toriel snap back her robe, her height coming to full size as she glared down at the small human with red eyes. "Every human that falls down here meets the same fate. I see it again and again!" Toriel turned her head, her body casting a long shadow on the human. "They come. They leave. They die."

Frisk felt as if the wind had been knocked out of her, the fallen human's eyes trailing from Toriel to the ground. If she did leave, Toriel would no longer be able to protect her. Frisk would be all alone in a completely strange world with nothing but her words. She had just barely made it past the monsters before, but at least she had some reasonable goal! She just had to make it past some puzzles! She had done the most ridiculous thing and just talked to monsters, and they let her go, but they were isolated!

How would she ever survive?

She felt her hand slowly reach down to feel the hilt of the knife between her fingers. What good could plastic do against monsters that probably are at least stronger then Toriel?! What was she supposed to do? Was there anything she could do? Was she doomed to either die out in the unknown or stay here and hide from the outside with Toriel until she died of old age?

She... She had to at least be able to choose! It's her choice... it's her life.

Frisk continued, this time her running slowing into an unhappy jog, her legs tense as she wondered what she was supposed to do. Was there anything she could even say? Anything at all?

She caught up to Toriel again before she found the answer to such questions, this time, she didn't even get to touch the monster before she stepped away.

"You naive child..." Toriel's tone was emotionless, like an exhausted husk who had seen this a million times too many. "You leave the Ruins... They... Asgore... Will kill you." Toriel's gaze suddenly turned more somber. "Please, my child, I am only protecting you. Do you understand?"

Toriel watched Frisk for a second stand there, a blank expression on the human's face as she tried to comprehend the facts. Whoever Asgore is, they want her dead... But... Why? Why do they want her dead so badly? Is this Asgore the reason the monsters are attacking her in the first place? Why? She didn't understand.

"Go to your room..." Toriel's voice slowly returning a little bit of warmth. "It's safer there." The monster then turned, walking away.

Frisk thought that maybe for one second, she maybe could go back to her room and everything could go back to normal... Or as normal as this could possible get. But... She wouldn't be able to ever be happy to know her only chance of ever being able to return to her own kind... to the surface was going to be shattered before her, and she was just going to give up. She had no choice in the matter. She had to act. She had to try. If she didn't try, she might as well have already died.

Frisk felt determination flow through her body as she moved on. She could do this. One foot in front of the other. She didn't run, or jog, instead her feet moved as if she had shackles attached to them. She watched Toriel stop at the corner, then turn to face her. Toriel kept her emotionless posture, like everything that was happening right now wasn't affecting her, but Frisk could feel it. She could feel all those emotions boiling underneath the surface. She needed to try and break that surface, maybe, then maybe Toriel would let her chose.

Toriel didn't have to say anything to threaten Frisk. Frisk already knew what Toriel was going to say. Toriel's eyes harsh and cold, sending a shiver down her spine. How could this be the same monster that saved her from Flowey?

"This is your last warning." Frisk saw Toriel turn the corner. Frisk felt like her own resolve was going to break as she turned the corner as well to a, A large double door, taller then two Toriels stacked on top of the fridge in the house. The air felt heavy, and she wasn't sure if it was just her or if suddenly being deeper in the earth had this affect on people. The room was truly freezing, even going as far as to smell like crisp winter. Her own breath was visible in front of her face. Now she knew why Toriel had all those sweaters.

Frisk felt her fingers twitch. Should she pull out the knife?

"This is your last warning." Frisk heard Toriel repeat, emphasising her point.

She should. She needed to protect herself.

But... Toriel wouldn't hurt her... would she?

The look across her face was serious.

Maybe that image from before was a warning of the future. Maybe she was supposed to kill Toriel. The same fear was running through Frisk's bones as she shivered. Frisk looked up at Toriel, wide eyed. She needed to get past her. She was blocking the exit. She was blocking the way to the surface. She needed to get past Toriel, using whatever method necessary.

Frisk felt her hand start to move towards the knife.

No. She wasn't going to kill Toriel... Toriel had been nice to her this whole time. Toriel had saved her! Frisk pulled her hand away from the pocket. Maybe if she could talk to Toriel. Get her to understand...

Frisk opened her mouth, trying to think of something to say, but no ideas sprung to mind. She was drawing a blank. A hideous blank. She felt like stabbing her own brain for failing on her at such a crucial moment. There was just nothing she could say.

"You want to leave so badly?" Frisk couldn't help but hear the betrayal in her tone. "Hmph. You are just like the others." How many humans has this happened to before? Toriel turned, her narrowed eyes sending familiar shivers shuddering down her spine. "There is only one solution to this" Suddenly something in her paw sparked, her paw catching ablaze, a fiery glow in her eyes. "Prove yourself... Prove to me that you can survive."

The room seemed to grow darker with the situation. Frisk could see her soul glowing from underneath her shirt once again. She took a step back. Frisk shook her head, refusing to fight. Frisk wouldn't fight. She needed to convince Toriel that she needed to try to get to the surface... Even if the exit was the only one-way... Even if this... Asgore... killed her-

She didn't want to think about it anymore. She needed to convince Toriel to let her pass. Frisk ran up, seemingly taking the monster for surprise as she grabbed onto her robe.

Frisk saw Toriel rear back her hand. She knew Toriel wasn't going to backhand her. Toriel wouldn't hurt her. Frisk squeezed her eyes shut, not moving from the spot.

The smack cause her to back pedal from where she was standing. Frisk just stood there for several seconds, processing the fact that Toriel actually... hurt her. Frisk then raised her hand to her cheek, already feeling it turn red from just the stinging sensation alone. rubbing the stinging skin gently. That hurt in her soul, and on her cheek...

Frisk took several steps forward, her hands clenched into fists, determined to not back down. She needed to press on. Toriel still looked emotionless. Frisk stood tall as several fireballs were flung at her. Her soul burned and seethed and Frisk felt herself be knocked back onto the smooth ground, landing harshly on her back. She curled slightly, her hands grabbing at her shirt in a desperate attempt to halt the searing ache in her soul. Frisk shook her head softly, pushing herself back up onto shaky legs. Tears started to form out of the corner of her eyes.

Toriel was hurting her. Actually hurting her.

Frisk saw the monster was struggling to hold her emotionless gaze. Cracks of unease and distress seeped between the creases in her eyes. Her mouth twitched slightly, wanting to pull itself into a frown. Her shoulders were tense. Frisk saw Toriel's arm wave, sending more fireballs.

Frisk trusted Toriel. She truly did... But... She was growing more and more unsure with each passing moment if Toriel was going to kill her or not. Frisk managed to dodge the wave of fireballs by diving to the left, but the tail end of one managed to nick her leg. Frisk stumbled forward with a gasp, grabbing onto her shirt as her injured leg throbbed.

Frisk pushed herself to stand back up. She felt her gaze settle on Toriel.

"What are you doing?" She heard Toriel whisper to herself, summoning up more fireballs in her palm. Frisk jumped, this time to the right.

Wrong choice.

The bulk of the fireballs suddenly looped around that area,. Frisk squeezed her eyes shut, taking the blunt of the blow, the same pain from before coursing through her blood. Frisk gasped as she landed on her side, her own pulse sending a new wave of pain with each heartbeat.

Frisk felt as if death itself had just sucker punched her.

The human just laid there for several seconds, feeling as if her body wanted to just stop functioning all together. She turned her head up at Toriel, the monster holding her paw over her mouth in shock.

Frisk gritted her teeth, pushing herself back up to face Toriel. She could feel if she continued getting hurt, Toriel would win with one hit.

Toriel looked be struggling. "Run away or fight!" Frisk heard Toriel demand, her voice cracking.

Frisk shook her head, refusing to attack or back down. Frisk took several steps forward. The searing pain from Toriel's previous attacks causing the tips of tears to appear in her eyes.

Toriel threw more fireballs in her direction. Frisk shut her eyes, tears slipping down her face as she braced for impact.

But the pain never came. Frisk looked up to see the fireballs flying past her, just barely scraping past her skin. She winced at the heat, combining with her burns to make it feel like her skin was bubbling.

Toriel wasn't hurting her.

But Frisk felt her legs moved forward. Toriel kept flinging her magic attacks, all of them close enough to singe off some of the hairs on her head, but none of them hit her directly. The room smelt of fire and brimstone now. The ground was scorched and charred around her. Frisk kept moving. More and more fireballs. One after the other. She felt like her organs were baking under all the heat.

She was in front of Toriel, but Toriel refused to look down, she just kept firing blast after blast. But none of them hit- even when Frisk was right in perfect range. Frisk squeezed her eyes shut, the consistent heat causing little beads of sweat to form across her brow. Toriel didn't want to end her, and Frisk wasn't going to hurt Toriel.

Frisk felt her arms wrap around Toriel, large, rolling tears falling down her chin. Frisk rubbed her head against Toriel's robe, her tiny fingers gripping against the fabric as if they were hanging on for dear life.

Toriel had frozen in place, the fireball sitting in her hand dimming until the room became dark. Toriel shut her own eyes, her raised hand dropping to her side limply.

"I know you want to go home... But..." Frisk heard Toriel. Her voice seemed to fragile and broken, sitting on the edge between heartbreak and despair. "Please... Go up to your room..." Toriel begged. Frisk felt like there was sudden rain, her face turning up to see tears dripping off of Toriel's chin. "I promise I will take good care of you here..." Frisk softly apologized. "I know we don't have much... But... We can have a good life here..."

Frisk hugged onto Toriel tighter, looking up at the crying mother figure before her. Toriel shook and shivered, her paws raising to wipe away her own tears. "Why are you... Making this so difficult?..." Frisk softly apologized again, rubbing her head into Toriel's robe.

"...ha ha..." She chuckled softly between her mostly silent sobs. "It is pathetic... Is it not?" Frisk suddenly watched Toriel turn down her head, staring though Frisk's teary eyes and seeming to look right at her very soul. Toriel closed her eyes, Frisk noticing how weary and tired Toriel looked. "I cannot save even a single child..." She softly whimpered. Frisk shook her head, Toriel saved her from that flower... That's something...

Toriel bent down on one knee so that she was on equal level with Frisk, causing the human to back up. The monster rubbed away the human's tears. "No, I understand. You would be unhappy here. The ruins are small once you get used to them." Toriel placed a hand on Frisk's shoulder. Frisk reached out, rubbing away the tears on Toriel's face, causing her to softly chuckle. "It would not be right for you to grow up down here." Toriel looked down at the ground. "My expectations... My loneliness... My fears..." Toriel's sad gaze rose to meet Frisk's. "For you, My child... I will put them aside."

Frisk felt Toriel place her large paw on the human's chest. A sudden warmth filled Frisk's body as green wisps escaped into her soul, the burning throughout her body dulling and instead being replaced with the soothing feeling of Toriel's healing. Frisk breathed out a sigh of relief as the pain left her body. There still was the slightest bit of what felt to be light bruising on her leg, but nothing major that wouldn't heal within a few days on its own.

Toriel then stood up, looking straight ahead, not daring to look Frisk in the eyes. "If you truly with to leave the Ruins... I will not stop you." Toriel looked to the side. "However, when you leave. Please do not come back. I hope you understand." Toriel then rubbed Frisk's head affectionately and walked back. Frisk watched Toriel

turn her head, her eyes glossy with tears still needing to be shed. "Goodbye my child." Toriel then walked on, turning the corner, leaving a heartbroken Frisk standing alone.

The room felt so cold. So empty. The odd mixture of the scent of pine, charcoal and pie mixed together and intertwined in some sort of dance. Frisk struggled to sit down, her eyes wide. Her healed soul needing time to breathe. Frisk squeezed her eyes shut, rubbing her palms into face until her tears stopped threatening to form.


	5. Chapter Four

Grey. The brick walls that sat around Frisk were grey. She had no idea why the walls seemed so important that she had to sit there just staring at them while her brain attempted to take a moment to piece itself back together. Weren't these walls purple before? Frisk wondered half-heartedly, her eyes tired.

It took more then a moment for Frisk to collect herself enough to break the spell the walls had on her exhausted frame. She felt more than conflicted on what mysteries before her. Her low gaze managed to watch a fraction of the door she had fought to get to. The size was much more intimidating than Frisk would have liked to admit. It must have been much too heavy for Toriel to open it, let alone a tiny child. Its strange and flowing design wrapped around the door and kept the frame in a choke hold.

If she was truly leaving, then she wouldn't be very prepared for the outside wor-... er... the outside of the Ruins. She glanced up at the ceiling, hoping silently for one minute that there would be a cave in and she could somehow climb out and not have to deal with any more of this... insanity. What human ever had to deal with this? She paused as she thought of the humans who came here before. They must have dealt with this as well, all these emotions rolling through their bodies and all the aches and pains that caused her eyes to water.

She took another moment to try and calm herself as she pushed away the sheer weight of the situation bearing down on her, but found it impossible. She needed a distraction so she could prepare herself both mentally and physically. She needed to realize that Toriel wasn't going to protect her anymore... a few minutes should be fine. She had been on her own before, Toriel was just... temporary protection. Someone to let her adjust to the underground. You could only trust yourself, so you needed to protect yourself, using whatever means necessary.

Frisk hoped Toriel wouldn't mind if she had to borrow some things, she would return them if she could, but she had no idea what was beyond that door, for all she knew there was lava right behind the door and she was truly trapped forever and Toriel was just messing with her. She needed to get supplies at least so she would be prepared. Who knew what monsters lie, ready to strike?

Frisk's first thought was food. Toriel had just gotten some food before the... fight, if you could call taking hits and hugging Toriel a fight. Surely Toriel would have some food to spare for a small human such as herself. Frisk brushed off her pants as she stood up, heading back down the seemingly endless hallway as she walked back to Toriel's house.

As she walked, she noticed a light pang in her leg whenever she put too much pressure on it. Toriel had healed her, but she remembered the monster saying healing magic was temporary. Sleeping was the only way to truly heal. She thought of perhaps the magic being an illusion to make her feel better, or perhaps something that just dulled the nerves in her body. She was tempted to ask Toriel, but realized that it would be a sour idea at best.

Frisk was also unsure if she should really go through with going through the door. Was it a one-way like Toriel said - or perhaps Toriel had just said that because she asked her never to return if she left- she was also injured, even if it was only a bruise now. It could be the difference between life or death out there.

She would also have no Toriel to protect her from the monsters... she had handled them before, although she had just barely made it to her goal without getting beaten to death. The human quietly frowned at herself for not dodging the friendliness pellets' better. She needed to get better at that or she would never make it past anything out there.

She wondered if she could run away from all the monsters. Surely if she hid well enough as well, she could very well just avoid the monsters all together. She could just run and hide from all opposition.

She also had the knife... Even if she was unsure about it, she may just be able to threaten monsters off. But she highly doubted a piece of plastic, a mere toy, could do much damage to any monster. The best thing she may be able to do is just wave it around wildly and hope they think it's real.

She looked up, seeing the stairs. She hoped Toriel wasn't home so she didn't have to worry about getting into another... situation. Toriel had said she would be safe as long as she was in this house, and she felt inclined to believe her, but from the way Asgore was talked about, and since she was mostly sure Toriel wasn't protecting her anymore, Frisk was much more hesitant to believe that fact.

Frisk climbed the steps, her hand trailing over the wall as she silently attempted to sneak back into Toriel's home. She peeked out from the door, then tip-toed further into the home. The smell of pie was stale and the home felt a lot more dull then normal. It was as if the warmth from before had left when she was left on her own. It wasn't a comfortable sensation.

She peeked around the house, checking to make sure Toriel wasn't sleeping in her room or sitting on the seat in the dining area. Toriel was indeed no where to be found.

Frisk didn't ease the tension in her shoulders one bit. She couldn't let her guard down. Not now, not ever. At least she had to make it to the surface, then she maybe could relax, but not now. She knew that the monsters were around, and if she was found out, she could really only talk to them or try to scare them.

Frisk headed to the kitchen, pulling out her phone and preparing the storage orb. There was some chocolate in the fridge, the leftover butterscotch-cinnamon pie, a couple squares of grass and what seemed to be a half eaten spider cookie from the bake sale. There were no drinks, much to her disappointment.

She knew water was the most important thing from science class- it made up seventy-five percent of her body, so she needed a lot of it, or else she would become a prune. She quickly climbed onto the counters, searching through the cabinets and pulling out a clear, plastic cup to fill up with some water from the sink. She turned the knob, filling the cup up and drinking as much as she could without getting sick. That amount was three large cups before she nearly threw up. If she couldn't take the water with her, she would just have to drink for her future self.

She jumped down, the water noisily sloshing around in her belly. Frisk was reminded of camels. They had humps on their backs that stored water, which they could then use to cross deserts. Frisk's stomach got a little bit bigger, so that must of meant she was also storing water for when she crossed any deserts. She thought of the possibility of deserts in the underground.

The human managed to cut a slice of the pie inside the fridge and store it away using the toy knife she already had with her. Surprisingly, the toy cut the pie rather well. She was half tempted to say that it was almost as good as a real knife, but she hadn't cut things with knives before, so for all she knew it wasn't very good at all. Lack of experience was Frisk's biggest downfall, and she knew it.

She took the chocolate with her, as well as the half eaten spider cookie. Toriel was probably going to throw it out soon anyways so might as well take it with her.

As she put in the assortment of foods, she noticed the group of stuffed animals that sat comfortably inside the bubble together. She felt the odd crunching feeling in her gut as she looked at them.

Frisk headed to the room Toriel had presented her with, hoping to find some clothes that she could wear that were less dirty, or at least take some for the trip. She then realized that she never asked Toriel how they cleaned clothes. She murmured softly at herself for being forgetful, then opened the door, heading to the closet and opening it up.

Most of the clothes were not in her size like she had originally thought. When she held them up to her chest, the clothes were much to long, making the average long sleeved shirt become a possible small dress. At least they were striped, she hummed. Thank goodness for small miracles, if it was spotted she wouldn't even think of wearing it. She also saw a rather cute red bow hanging under a few of the scarves, and decided to put it on. It was a simple, kid friendly one that just snapped into her hair like a clip. It was cute.

While she was sizing up another shirt, this one a green one with a yellow stripe, but out of the corner of her eye, something moved. She jerked around immediately, her eyes wide and the shirt still in front, as if it would offer some small protection against any of the friendliness pellets'.

She saw the end of a bright yellow petal melt into the ground right in her doorway.

Flowey.

Flowey was in the house.

Frisk clung to the shirt, her eyes wide and darting around, hoping to find where the flower was. Frisk practically threw the two shirts she had looked at into the phone's storage and before she could think about what she was doing, she pulled out the knife.

Frisk could hear her heart beat pulsing through her eardrums. She stepped forward, jabbing it threateningly at where the flower was not a second ago. Yes, the tiny toy was such a great and powerful threat that even Flowey would cower against its might.

She scoffed internally.

Frisk hesitantly took a step forward, her eyes glancing to the edges of her vision in case Flowey suddenly showed up behind her.

When Flowey didn't spontaneously appear out from the earth, she ran.

Through the basement door, down the steps, across the endless hallway she ran and ran until she turned the corner. She skidded to a halt, glancing behind her in case that flower showed up.

Nothing.

Frisk gripped onto the handle tighter as her shoulders tensed.

Flowey could move? She had entertained the thought that perhaps Toriel had killed the monster with that fire ball, or maybe just injured him enough that he didn't want to follow her anymore. But clearly, with fireballs no longer a threat, Flowey was much more keen to follow much more closely.

And if he was following, that meant he was going to attack.

Frisk didn't even hesitate to push open the doors, adrenaline coursing through her veins, making her pupils dilate. She found the doors did put up a fight, but with fear pumping through her she managed to make the large foe yield to her tiny might. The doors remained open as she stood there, in between the Ruins and what laid beyond. The room was remarkably dark, making the threat of Flowey feel that much greater against the already grand piles of fear that clung to Frisk like wires, yanking her down and pulling her back towards the entrance of the basement. The light outline of the steps going upwards did not help ease her anxiousness. Frisk glanced behind her. No Flowey. Yet.

The doors slowly creaked close behind her, the last of the Toriel's illumination from Ruins fading behind the door until nothing but a tiny sliver of light coming from the bottom remained, just barely managing to highlight the first step.

Frisk held the knife towards her chest. The previous fear about wielding a weapon was still present in her mind, but the horror of Flowey being so much greater that it quickly squashed any qualms about a weapon. Even if it was a toy.

If Flowey was around, she may very well have to stab something, even if it would be pointless.

Up the steps, knife by her side as she kept making sure there wasn't a flower right behind her, ready to strike. Not that she could see much in this darkness anyways. For all she knew Flowey was ready to trip her and cause her to fall. Maybe she'd break something. The thought caused her to focus more on the steps and less on the darkness behind her that threatened to swallow her whole.

When she looked up at the top, she noticed a faint white light. For a second, she thought it was the surface. Maybe she had made it already? Maybe she found a short cut? She hurried her pace, the light growing ever brighter as she ran.

She reached the end, her excited expression crashing into the ground as she saw the room before her, a thin patch of grass sitting in the middle, the light beaming down, dust floating in the air, highlighting the tall, smiling flower in the center.

The smile felt much more malicious than friendly.

Frisk grimaced at Flowey, hoping they had a secret fear of plastic toys in the shape of knives. She gripped onto the handle, remaining rooted to the spot as she watched Flowey tilt his head back and forth, their eyes narrowing slightly as they glanced at the item in her hand.

"I wouldn't think about it if I were you," Flowey hummed, his face suddenly gaining long threatening fangs with their unnerving smile. "We wouldn't want anyone getting hurt, now would we?"

Frisk looked down, noticed her knuckles were turning white from clutching onto the handle so hard. She glanced up at Flowey, her eyes narrowing slightly, hoping that it make it look like she was considering it.

The flower's grin widened.

"You think you're clever, huh? Think you can trick poor old Flowey?" Frisk tried to hide the shocked expression on her face. Had she really been that easily seen through? "You think you're real smart, don't'cha? Not once did you pull that knife out during your entire 'Adventure'," Flowey hissed. "Oh no! Kill or be killed? I better get a weapon." Flowey's mimicking expression dropped as their tone sunk into what could only be described as being kicked off at hell's gates. "And never ever use it."

Frisk's soul felt like it sunk into her stomach. Flowey had been watching her... this entire time? What about when she slept? Did he see the fight with Toriel? Flowey suddenly grew so much more terrifying.

Flowey stared at Frisk, especially into her soul, his grin growing. "So, you managed to play by your own rules so far... you spared the life of a single person." Frisk took a step back, holding her knife out in front of her. Flowey chuckled, his expression suddenly shrinking into a small and malicious grin. "I bet you feel so great. You didn't kill anybody." Flowey suddenly twisted his head around, it's expression upside down and his eyes black pinpricks. "This time."

Frisk blinked slowly, her face contorting to one of confusion. This time? Was he going to follow her further? She slowly lowered her arm into a more defensive stance, her feet placed farther apart, ready to jump.

"But don't act so cocky." Flowey suddenly shot forward, vines wrapping around her legs before she could even react, rooting her to the spot. She cried out, thorns sticking into her thighs, pressing into her already injured leg and causing pain to lace up her spine and wrap around her torso. Frisk raised her knife, ready to do anything to get these vines off, but suddenly more of them shot up towards her raised arm, wrapping around and holding her in place. She cried out in shock at such sudden movements. Not five seconds had passed and she was already trapped. Less than an hour later after Toriel had left the human to her own devices and she was already going to be killed.

She was trapped. Frisk felt Flowey's vines wrap around her chest, her clothes thankfully keeping her from receiving the worst of the thorns, but tiny pinpricks bled droplets of blood that was absorbed into her shirt. She pulled and yanked at her arm, hoping that it would somehow free her, but instead it resulted in the thorns sticking in deeper, drawing more blood and most certainly staining her shirt. The bruise on her leg cried out as a vine pressed against it, a thorn managing to hit just the right spot so she jolted out a cry of pain.

Frisk saw Flowey's face a few mere inches away from her own... but there was a severe problem pushing out from the flower's face that would haunt her dreams. Toriel's face was seemingly stolen and attached to the flower's head. Frisk froze, her eyes wide as the knife slipped out of her hand and fell to the ground. She yelped, her hand trying to reach out to grab the little protection she got before one of Flowey's leaves pushed her chin up to meet his gaze.

"I know what you did." Suddenly Toriel's face started sweating, her fur glistening together as it slowly melted in place, dripping, the same shocked expression on her face from the dream... it was as if her face had become candle wax lit before an open flame. Toriel's eyes rolled back, her mouth opening as the melting started to create rivers burying though her skin to try and reach the ground through her own body. Fire. The inside of her body was on fire. Her eyes glowed red as her face became less and less recognizable by the second. Wax dripped from the top of her muzzle to her chin, her mouth slowly whispering a silent truth as Toriel's skin oozed off and landed on Frisk's face. "You... murdered... me..."

Frisk wouldn't have been standing if Flowey hadn't been wrapped around her body like a vice. Thorns that had just prodded before now sunk deep into her skin and made her bite back a scream. She thought she had been afraid before, that she had seen the worst of what's to fear in the Underground, but clearly she had seen nothing yet. The Ruins were nothing compared to what was beyond. She couldn't move. She couldn't think. Her mind struggled to come up with a rational explanation but Toriel's melting face seemed to have caused Frisk's brain to take the evening off.

That...

That wasn't real.

It was just a dream. Or a vision. She wasn't sure. All she knew was it didn't happen. How did Flowey even know about that?! Could they read her mind? Were they psychic? Why were they doing this? Why not just kill her?

Flowey was going to torture her. Not kill her like the other monsters, he had some kind of vendetta, some kind of motive to toy with her like he was a cat and she was a tiny mouse.

Run.

Finally her brain churned out the one word that sent her into panic mode. Heart racing and her soul burning, Frisk let out a loud and deep screech of horror. She jerked around, the thorns stuck into her skin as she tried to flee. If she just got away she could just... she didn't know. She just needed to get away. Thorns broke off into her skin as she pulled, her eyes unable to break off from the sight before her.

The face slowly rebuilt itself into the vague silhouette of Flowey, his face still occasionally falling apart as he continued talking as if nothing had happened.

"And then you went back because you regretted it." Frisk meekly looked up at the flower's face as they chuckled darkly. "You naive idiot."

Went back? What? Why? Who? Where? Frisk's mind tried to piece itself back together with the basic question of what the hell was going on.

"Do you think you're the only one with that power? The power to restore the world... purely by your own determination."

Frisk's mind completely blanked. She must have missed a large portion of the conversation- if you could call this a conversation- because she was confused on what this satanic beast was talking about. She paused for several seconds, Flowey looking over her face, as if he was expecting a shocked expression. Like he had caught her one big secret.

"What?" Frisk's voice was jagged, her brain only just now remembering she had a mouth.

The flower blinked, his head drawing back slightly, the melting of his face stopped in place, then their eyes narrowed. "The ability to Save?"

Frisk stared back, blinking several times as Flowey threw another puzzle piece in her face.

"...What?"

The flower suddenly closed the short distance, pressing his face against her's, the pieces of Toriel's melted skin absorbing back into his body. His small eyes scanning hers. He was completely confused, something she never thought she would see on this flower's face. There were hints of other emotions bundled together with the confusion, but one she picked out right away. Fear. Flowey was scared.

"Oh...?" He seemed disappointed. Then a malicious mask of hatred slipped over his features as he continued, rolling with this new lack of information. "So you don't know?" The flower paused, then chuckled, his laugh growing and growing until it echoed across the room and clanged against her ears. "Well, well, well! This is SO much more interesting!" Suddenly the vines slipped away, a few of the thorns still ebbed into her skin. She collapsed, the lack of support and what she had seen still causing her mind to reel. She grunted, looking up at the towering flower as he returned back to his spot in the center of the room. How had he moved so quickly? "I'll be watching!"

She then watched as Flowey's head suddenly grew, a grotesque grin stretching well past what was possible as it opened its sharp teeth and cried out in laughter. Frisk pushed her hands against her ears, trying to block out the noise before she went deaf. She squeezed her eyes shut-

Suddenly the noise was gone, she jerked her head up to see Flowey was gone. The light was gone. Everything was gone.

But she was still here.

She scrambled over to the toy knife she had dropped, picking it up quickly and jerking it around, her eyes scanning the room.

No Flowey.

But he was watching.

She breathed out for a second, shaking over what had happened.

She... had killed Toriel.

But... she had saved her... Somehow?

Using... the power to Save... the power to restore the world? Using her own... Determination?

She could restore the world... by being really determined?

No... that made no sense...

Flowey was messing with her. Flowey was trying to get inside her head.

But... if that was true... how did he know what she saw?

Could Flowey read minds? Was he psychic? Could he hear her thoughts right now?

 _Flowey! I know you're listening! Come out and face me!_

...

Frisk glanced around.

Of course Flowey wasn't psychic. That's ridiculous... don't be an idiot.

But could she really say what was and wasn't ridiculous anymore? Here she was, sitting miles and miles under the earth, afraid of a talking flower and thinking a goat who can walk on its hind legs acts a lot like a mother... and let's not forget all the magic! Fire magic is real... Flowey had some... strange plant magic. All the 'friendliness pellets', spiders with their own bake sales, ghosts! _What else was she going to run into?!_ Frisk felt her breath quicken as she tried to grab onto her own sense of reality. Her hands shook as she held the knife.

Was any of this real? Perhaps it wasn't! Maybe she would wake up! Frisk pinched herself... nothing.

Frisk shut her eyes. Now was not the time to be dealing with this! You can't deal with this now! Flowey could come back!

Frisk paused, glancing at her knife. Maybe it wasn't real. Maybe if she just...

God dammit! Pull yourself together!

Frisk shook her head. Calm down. Calm down. She couldn't deal with this. She was right, Flowey could come back. She wasn't allowed to deal with this right now! It could wait!

Injuries. Check your injuries. Focus on something else! Anything other than this 'adventure'.

She scanned her legs and arms, the one in particular she had held her knife with was rather cut up. Apparently Flowey had been scared enough of that toy that he needed to scrape up her arm for it. The thorns had mostly been small, thank goodness for that, but still more then a few managed to break the skin when that flower had squeezed her. Beads of blood spotted the sleeves, causing Frisk to loudly sigh. The wounds stung against the stale air and she hoped that Flowey didn't poison her, or else he wouldn't have very much to watch.

She pulled out a few of the thorns that had been stuck into her, hissing lightly with each one pulled out. She found that the thorns had a curve that she could use that make it easier to pull out if she went with the flow- now if she could only make her hands stop shaking. She eventually had a small pile sitting right next to her and wasn't sure if she had gotten them all, Frisk didn't have the ability to pull out thorns from her back, but it seemed to be most of them.

She rubbed her arm, drops of the blood rubbing onto her hand. She shivered, the room was freezing.

Wait, she had gotten clothes!

She pulled out her phone, taking out the longer, green and yellow shirts she had gotten and slipping it over her current attire. The sleeves were too long, hiding her hands with a couple of inches to spare, making the knife she was holding look more like an extension of her arm.

Maybe she could pretend she was a very human like monster to trick the monsters out there?

No... That wouldn't work. Monsters all looked so... odd. She couldn't make herself look that odd to be able to trick them. They all seemed sapient, so they couldn't be unintelligent. Although she did know some humans who were on the border of sapience , so who knew.

Frisk walked to the door, her hands resting on the front of it. Just touching it sent shivers down her spine. It was freezing... She debated on wearing her last shirt over this one, giving her three layers of protection, but she feared if she did that then it would be more likely she could get hit by monsters from the extra bulk.

She pushed at the door, grunting as her shoes skidded against the ground. Something seemed to be pushing against the door, or holding it shut. She paused, glancing over the large door to make sure there wasn't any locks she missed. She was right, the thing holding the door shut must have been on the other side. She huffed, putting the knife in her pocket and pushed again with all her might.

For several seconds she shoved, but the door remained closed. She felt a fear that she was going to be stopped here rise in her throat. She glanced down, noticing that there was a trickle of snow slowly pushing from the crack forming from opening the doors. She watched the snow melt into slush once it got inside the Ruins door... was there snow blocking the door?

Frisk took several steps back, giving the door one final look over, then ran. Frisk barreled into the door, the crack widening ever so slightly. She winced, rubbing her aching shoulder, then took another couple of steps back. She repeatedly slammed into the door several times before the opening finally got wide enough for her to wiggle her way through.

She tugged herself through the door, then was met with a chilling slap to the face. She tripped, then landed face first into the snow.

Contrary to popular belief, most snow was not as soft as movies would like you to believe. Once snow had been sitting for a few days, it no longer becomes a lovable pastime enjoyed by all families, instead it becomes the ultimate bane of everyone's existence. Considering Frisk had dealt with the wonders of snow during last winter's blizzard, she was not excited in the least bit to deal with the white devil.

Frisk pushed herself up, brushing off the already melting snow as it hugged her clothes. Her tiny injuries shook and cried out at the cold. She would have been flattered by the snow's hugging if she was not freezing. She hadn't thought about something to cover her legs until now, and she sorely regretted it. She glanced back, thinking perhaps she could rush back... But then Flowey was watching. Flowey would strike her and it would be it.

Flowey was, of course, a flower, and flowers can't grow in the cold... so they must hate snow... Maybe she was safe?

No. Don't be ridiculous.

Frisk grunted, then pushed at the door, trying to close it before Flowey might sneak through. The eerie silence of the forest around her was shattered by a loud screech of the shutting door that echoed across the pine forest around her. There was a soft click from the inside, and Frisk breathed.

Well... There was no lava out here. Frisk hummed softly, kicking the snow gently with her shoes. She turned to look at the Ruins behind her. The violet door had a large archway with the familiar symbol that matched Toriel's dress etched into the top, the same spiral pillars from the start of the Ruins when Frisk had fallen down reached upwards to the sky. What was even more impressive then the door, was the wall it sat on. The wall was the same soft purple stone that highlighted most of the ruins, soft cracks from age etching throughout the wall, but instead of ending at a corner like the other walls before, it seemed to go on through the forest and well past into the horizon. Frisk blinked, her eyes trailing upwards as she saw that wall seemed to go forever until it collided with a... cloud! A cloud!

Frisk's eyes widened, her mouth opening slightly. A cloud... had she made it to the surface? Maybe this was the top of the mountain! The trees may have been slightly different from the ones before- they were much skinnier, of a much darker shade, and dragged pine needles all over the snow, but they were trees! Who ever heard of trees under the earth! There wouldn't be enough air, or sunlight!

Magic could provide enough sunlight, and there was enough air for you to breathe, so there must be enough for the trees.

Frisk paused, her happy expression falling into one of confusion and disappointment. Oh. That was true... Frisk breathed, rubbing her head as she took a look at the forest around her. There was an oddly large bush sitting right next to the door, but she didn't pay much attention to it, instead what was more noticeable was the trees that were packed so tightly together it would be an adventure in itself to just squeeze past a pair of them.

The forest and the door wasn't the only sight to behold. At the edge of the forest was a large cliff that hung downwards with a depressed posture. The earth opened up with a gaping yawn. Long, sharp teeth made from stone jutted out of the long scar that cut through the stone, threatening to gut her like a fish if she even dared to linger too long.

Thankfully there was a pathway on the edge of the cliff the hugged the frame of the forest, seemingly from fear of the massive canyon. This path had certainly seen better days, small cracks rose up here and there to reveal old wear and tear from constant abuse of being tread on and then suddenly abandoned in the blink of an eye.

 _Was it safe to just walk in the open like that? Wouldn't that make me easy pickings for any monsters that just glanced over to where I am?_ Frisk shivered, her uncovered legs starting to ache from the cold. Goosebumps slid across her skin and sent shivers down her spine. She needed to find shelter soon at least.

You don't have very much of a choice, do you?

Frisk let out a sigh, walking forward on the pathway. The air, although very crisp smelling from the snow, still held the scent of old pine and stale stone. Little pine needles were scattered across the edge of the pathway, showing that the trees were still very much alive and kicking. Frisk rubbed her shivering arms, glancing around as she felt her hand itch for the knife to protect herself. But from what? There was nothing out here for what seemed to be miles... Frisk stepped over a fallen branch. But would it really hurt to be careful? Maybe the knife could ward off any monsters who were hidden?

Suddenly there was a loud crack. Frisk jerked around, her hand moving down to the knife in her pocket as she searched for what made that loud noise.

The branch she had just stepped over, the one that was bigger then her leg and probably weighed more than three of her combined, was snapped in half as if it was just a simple twig. _Flowey. Don't panic._

Frisk turned on her heel and started marching down the pathway, still fearful of slipping and then falling over the canyon to her untimely demise. Her hands casually slid into her pockets as her eyes glanced into the trees. She squeezed her fingers against the hilt of her knife, finding her movements shaky with the cold.

Movement to the left.

Frisk jerked around, pulling out the knife and holding it at arm's length. She wished her skinny body would stop shivering so much.

"I have a very deadly weapon and I'm not afraid to use it!" she lied. She didn't have a deadly weapon, nor the will to use it. "Go away!" Frisk cried out, using the angriest voice she could muster without revealing how terrified she was. Her voice had cracked embarrassingly. Go away Flowey. I know that's you.

You already made your point.

Frisk waited several seconds, her arm lowering slightly.

Nothing. There was nothing... she tried to listen in when she found something truly terrifying. There was no noise. No birds chirping, no animals moving, not even a simple breeze to rustle the trees. There was nothing out here except her, and whatever broke the branch.

Frisk felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise. It was so utterly silent. At least in the Ruins there might have been a small trickle of water or the sound of things moving around, some semblance of life, but there was nothing out here. She became acutely aware of her heartbeat and the blood rushing in her body struggling to keep her warm.

She took several steps back, her eyes scanning the forest once over and then turned on her heel and ran. The canyon was nothing in comparison to Flowey.

The snow crunched loudly in protest as she darted. She held the knife close to her body, her head jerking around at the forest. Movement. Movement. Something in the shadows. It was watching her. It was going to attack.

Up ahead the canyon had carved out a piece of the earth, leaving a gaping hole in it's wake. The hole itself was maybe a couple feet across, much too far for her to jump, but probably small enough for Toriel to make the leap with no trouble at all. It seemed that the hole had been there long enough as there was a mediocre bridge had been built that wouldn't abide by any safety measures up on the surface. The bridge itself was much too skinny, It was just big enough for Frisk to walk across with no worry of having to use extreme gymnastics techniques to tightrope her way across -but that wasn't saying much. She could walk normally, sure, but the fact there were no safety ropes or anything to keep her from falling over the side grabbed her soul and dragged it into the snow. There was this... odd wooden structure built over the top, she vaguely thought it might have been a really big gate, but that idea flew out the window as it was ridiculous. Who would build a gate that big?

There was a crunch.

Frisk felt a chill run down her spine, the gravity of being so far under the earth caused her soul to strain. Flowey didn't make crunching noises. Flowey just appeared...

She turned her head...

Nothing. Frisk turned all the way around, her eyes searching through the snow.

 _Something's there._

Of course there is. Did the broken branch and constant shadows not give you enough of a hint?

Frisk gritted her teeth together. This is probably Flowey trying to scare her. Maybe they would attack again- her tiny open wounds complained about the cold now that she had been reminded that they did exist. Frisk turned around, standing still, her eyes glossing over the makeshift bridge. The air seemed to chill as the soft crunching of footsteps grew ever closer. Her hands slipped into her pockets, holding the knife carefully so that it could be pulled out at a moment's notice.

Frisk's legs felt like jello. She squeezed her eyes shut, breathing out as she tried to reaming cal-

" **HUMAN**."

Frisk nearly jumped out of her skin, clamping her jaw shut as she suppressed a noise in her throat that certainly didn't sound anything like a human. That wasn't Flowey. Didn't sound anything like Flowey.

Maybe I should be friendly? Perhaps just...

Turn around and shake his hand.

Her shoulders tensed up and she spun around, her hand that wasn't holding the toy knife for dear life was outstretched. She expected her hand to suddenly be enveloped in flames... Or maybe a bunch of pellets to shoot out and stab her, but what she didn't expect was a big, wet, farting noise. Frisk's eyes widened and she opened her eyes.

She took a step back at what she saw. Right in front of her was a grinning skeleton... Wearing a blue jacket... And black gym shorts...With little friendliness pellets for eyes...

And blue slippers...

Was this a dead human? Did someone reanimate a corpse? How was a skeleton grinning? Why did her hand fart? How did a dead thing have eyes? And move? And work? How was it together? And how did it disappear like that? Could it bury itself like Flowey?

Frisk decided that logic didn't exist anymore and that she was just going to give up on trying to rationalize any monsters. Killer flowers, Talking goats, sentient jello, and now a walking skeleton. Frisk held down the urge to throw her hands up in the air and give up on logic. Three days and... One day? God she had no idea how many days she'd been here already and she'd only just arrived. She hadn't been here that long and she'd run into so many questionable things that she was pretty sure if she was a scientist, she would have lost her mind.

But she wasn't. She wasn't allowed to freak out over the fact she was touching actual bone. Its chalk-like and rubbery texture sending shivers down her spine. That's what bone felt like? She wasn't allowed to freak out that she may be touching an actual dead human right now who may have been resurrected because magic is a thing. She wasn't allowed to because she needed to get to the surface and if she kept freaking out over every strange thing that appeared then she would end up in the crazy farm before this day was over... if they had crazy farms down here.

Apparently the skeleton had been talking because it suddenly snapped it's fingers - how did it do that? - right in front of her face a few times. She blinked with each snap, then shook her head. The skeleton withdrew it's hand from hers, and she noticed...

A whoopee cushion in it's palm?.

When did that get there?... well that explained the rubbery feeling and the farting noise. They tossed it to the side with a deep chuckle, landing in the snow.

"Hey kid." The skeleton's voice was particularly monotone and low key, something that might have even been called jaded if not for the light sprinkle of humor in their... eyes. Frisk shivered as she felt wind suddenly blow through the skeleton and hit her like he wasn't even there. "You alive?"

Frisk internally scoffed at the irony, but nodded anyways. Frisk glanced down at her soul, a light rim of red light shining through. Was she in a fight?

Frisk's eyes widened and she jerked her hands up to show she didn't want to fight, taking a step back, her heel nearly went over the edge. The skeleton glanced over her, seemingly taking the hint that she didn't want to fight a dead thing that was resurrected with magic.

"...Alright." He shrugged his bony shoulders. Frisk blinked, glancing down to see the light slowly dying down from under her shirt. She stared up at him, baffled. That... what? "I'm Sans. Sans the skeleton." Sans stuck his hands into the jacket's pockets. She could make out the outline of each bone in his hand. "I'm actually supposed to be on watch for humans right now," he explained. He then let out a big sigh... did magic skeletons breathe? "But... y'know... I don't really care about capturing anybody." Frisk's shoulders sagged with relief, the idea of fighting something that was already dead was horrifying. Could you even hurt something that was dead?

She quickly straightened her posture, it was rude to slouch, and she only just met this monster! It could be a trap!

"Now by brother, Papyrus... He's a human hunting FANATIC." Frisk paused, her mouth opening slightly. Just when she thought she had gotten out of one fight she had ready been alerted to another monster that would be actively hunting her.

Great.

"Hey, actually, I think that's him over there." He glanced past Frisk, causing her to follow his gaze, her own eyes much more fearful then his. Indeed there was... a much taller and skinnier skeleton wearing absurd clothes that she could only describe as makeshift armor and a red scarf stomping over from a simple pathway that seemed much more safe then this one. "Hey, I have an idea. Go through this gate thingy." Frisk glanced up at the odd gate overlooking the bridge. "Yeah, go right through, my bro made the bars too wide to stop anybody."

Frisk hesitated, looking at the bridge, then back to the skeleton. She didn't really have a choice, did she? Frisk took a step onto the bridge...

It didn't wiggle, nor jiggle or even sway under her weight. She blinked, taking several more steps as she slowly realized this bridge was made of stone... But had been painted to look like a bridge. What? Frisk then made the unfortunate mistake of looking down the side, her eyes widening as she swore she saw the spikes down there gleam at her with encouragement to fall. She eeped, her legs shaking out of how cold this area was, and fear. She was going to fall. She was going to fall. She squeezed her eyes shut.

She felt something with bones for hands suddenly lift her up under the pits of her arms. She cried out as she felt the skeleton lift her over his head and walk casually across as if it was nothing. She froze in place, her eyes wide as she saw the tall skeleton seem to grow as he approached. That was Papyrus?... He looked... Not as terrifying as she initially thought.

Before she could take in Papyrus fully, Sans dropped her and into the snow unceremoniously. She fell with an oomph, landing face first and snow getting in her shirt.

Great. Snow in clothes will then melt and freeze you to death.

She pushed herself back up into standing position and glanced to Sans, then to the approaching Papyrus with confusion.

"Quick, behind that conveniently shaped lamp." Sans said and pointed lazily with one hand to... a conveniently shaped lamp exactly her size a few feet away from the pathway.

That was a big lamp. She had no idea how a lamp that was in the exact shape of her body and hair even existed- but it did- and for some reason it was conveniently placed here.

Frisk glanced back, shooting Sans a confused gaze as to why such a large lamp was conveniently placed here, but decided not to 'shoot a gift in the mouth'... was that the right saying?Frisk dashed behind the lamp, contouring her body to make sure that Sans's brother wouldn't see her. Her legs stiffened as she attempted to become one with the lamp. She mentally noted how absurd this was.

"SANS!" Frisk jumped at the loud voice that bellowed out of the much taller skeleton. It was so sudden and shocking she nearly knocked over the lamp, but she grabbed onto it before it fell and fixed it. She placed a hand on her chest, attempting to quell her racing heartbeat as she breathed out. The voice was needlessly loud, like if he was using all caps in real life. There were undertones of something much lighter than what she had heard from Sans, perhaps innocence or inexperience? She was unsure.

"Yeah bro?" Sans lazily hummed.

"YOU HAVEN'T RECALIBRATED YOUR PUZZLES IN EIGHT DAYS!" Papyrus screeched, his voice knocking around in Frisk's head. She wondered if it was so loud it was actually echoing inside her skull.

"Oh. Sorry bro."

"DON'T 'SORRY BRO' ME! ALL YOU DO IS HANG OUTSIDE YOUR STATION! WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING?" Frisk decided to abandon her attempt to become one with the lamp and instead clamped her hands over her ears to help muffle the screeching.

"Staring at this lamp. It's really cool. Do you wanna look?" Frisk jerked her head around at Sans. Was he trying to get her caught?! Frisk glanced over at the human hunter as she watched him stomp into the snow angrily.

"WHAT? NO! I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THAT! WHAT IF A HUMAN COMES THROUGH HERE?" Frisk sucked in a nervous breath as Papyrus suddenly jerked his head around to face Sans. Frisk winced for the smaller skeleton, feeling bad that he had to take the brunt of his screaming. "I WANT TO BE READY! I WILL BE THE ONE! I MUST BE THE ONE! I WILL CAPTURE A HUMAN!" Papyrus placed a gloved hand on his chest, his cape suddenly fluttering in the wind -wait... There was no wind."THEN, I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL GET ALL THE THINGS I UTTERLY DESERVE!" Although Frisk couldn't see Sans from behind the lamp at this position, she imagined him rolling his eyes. But she didn't know Sans enough to be sure. "RESPECT... RECOGNITION... I WILL FINALLY BE ABLE TO JOIN THE ROYAL GUARD! PEOPLE WILL ASK, TO, BE MY... "FRIEND"!" Frisk felt her brow crease, the soft beginnings of an idea rolling in her head.

Don't be ridiculous. You can't befriend someone who wants to hurt you!

Frisk felt the idea of befriending the skeleton shake slightly at the doubt. But, she had befriended -or at least got monsters who attacked her before to stop.

And what about Flowey? Did you stop Flowey?

Frisk felt her legs shaking, her bruised leg lifting up slightly as she stopped leaning on the injury. Her arms hissed as she glanced down at the bits of red just tinting the sleeves ever so slightly... other than Flowey... it didn't hurt to at least try...

"I WILL BATHE IN A SHOWER OF KISSES EVERY MORNING!" Papyrus' voice suddenly cracked through her thoughts, causing her eardrums to loudly complain about volume control.

"Hmm... Maybe this lamp will help you?" Frisk made an audible sound of frustration at this. _Sans. Why?_

"SANS! YOU ARE NOT HELPING! YOU LAZYBONES!" Papyrus cried out even louder than before. "ALL YOU DO IS SIT AROUND AND BOONDOGGLE! YOU GET LAZIER AND LAZIER EVERYDAY!"

"Hey, Take it easy. I've gotten a ton of work done today." Frisk could hear him wink. "A skele-ton." She swore she heard a drum play at the pun. She snorted out a surprised laugh at the sudden humor **-** then felt like an idiot as she realized she was not a couple feet away from a monster who wanted her dead. Why would you laugh!?

"SANS!" Papyrus cried out.

"Come on. You're smiling." Even though her ears complained, Frisk softly chuckled, her hand reaching up to cover her mouth.

"I KNOW AND I HATE IT!" Papyrus complained without restraint. He let out a sigh -or... he said the word sigh in his normal volume. "WHY DOES SOMEONE AS GREAT AS ME... HAVE TO DO SO MUCH TO GET RECOGNITION?"

"Wow. It really sounds like you're working yourself..." Down to the bone. "Down to the bone." Again the drums she heard play, and she jerked around to look at the forest, trying to spot who was playing the drums out here.

"UGH! I WILL ATTEND TO MY PUZZLES. AS FOR YOUR WORK... PUT A LITTLE MORE... 'BACKBONE' INTO IT!" Frisk giggled softly. These two -were they really so scary? Maybe she could really befriend them! Frisk felt a smaller part of her grumble something about monsters but she was shocked when Papyrus suddenly let out a loud... laugh? She guessed it was a laugh, but it was strange.

But what part of monsters wasn't strange?

Frisk nodded softly as she watched Papyrus walk off, turn around, give another hearty yet strange laugh, then march off as if he was in the army.

"Alright, it's safe." She took a step away from the lamp, letting out a sigh as she rubbed her right arm softly. She sneeze and then turned to Sans, nodding her head softly in a thank you. "Don't mention it kid." He paused, his bones somehow pushing together as if the top of his eye sockets were eyebrows. She thought he looked conflicted about something, but she was more distracted by the fact his bone folded and creased. She internally complained about logic but pushed it out of the way so she could focus on what he wanted to ask. "Hey kid. You ought to get going. He may come back, and if he does... you'll have to sit through some of my hilarious jokes." Frisk snorted and nodded softly.

Sans was... odd. He looked, in all honesty, like a large monster from his girth, but he only was a head taller then Frisk. Although she was still intimidated by him, she couldn't imagine an adult being scared of someone so small. Unlike normal skeletons that she had seen inside of science class, this one had much wider and rounder features, like there was invisible fat clinging to his bones and pushing his body round. She wasn't sure if skeletons could even be described as fat, but his rounded features did suggest such a description.

Frisk took a step away, looking down the path way as she thought about the path before her. She stopped, glancing at the small guard tower she hadn't noticed before sitting in the corner of the little area like a neat and tidy little hideaway. She thought she smelt the faint scent of condiments but shook her head at the thought.

"Hey." Frisk turned her head as she heard the skeleton grab her attention. "Actually, hate to bother you, but... can you do me a favor?" Sans stuck his hands into his pockets, his back slouched slightly. "I was thinking, my brother has been kind of down lately... he's never seen a human before." Sans didn't even get to finish before Frisk's posture shot up and her eyes went wide.

"What -but he's trying to capture me!" Her brow creased as suspicion cross her features.

"Relax, he's not dangerous. Even if he tries to be." Sans shrugged his shoulders softly, his eye sockets shutting -somehow. He continued, not giving her another chance to respond. "Thanks a million, I'll be up ahead." He hummed, turning the opposite way of up ahead and walked back towards the entrance, leaving slipper footprints in the snow. She wanted to say he was going the wrong way, but something stopped her. Frisk sighed, crossing her arms as she realized not only did she have to try and fail to fight monsters, now she had to befriend one that was actively hunting her.

Great.

* * *

 _Thank you to **coincidencless** , who beta read this chapter and pointed out errors or mistakes I missed! _


	6. Chapter Five

Frisk felt her shoulders sag as she let out a breath, her sigh visible in the cold. She tried to look on the bright side. She was bound to meet Papyrus eventually, he knew this area better then her so he probably already knew she's here. Maybe Sans already told Papyrus through some secret monster language.

Frisk paused, suddenly wondering why she could understand the monsters. They have been stuck under this mountain for who knows how long, wouldn't they have developed their own way of speaking after all these years? Or at least wouldn't the English be really old English? She sighed. She imagined a mini Frisk with a banner slung across her shoulders with the words logic written across floating on her right shoulder and shrugging.

She moved on, following the path until it split at a fork in the road, one going up towards a dead end at a river and the other bending around some trees, getting eerily close to the edge. _How long did this canyon stretch for?_ Frisk wondered, rubbing her arms as she tried to warm herself up. Jeez it was cold...

Frisk spotted a box sitting by a sign down the pathway going towards the ravine. She walked over, reading the sign out loud, "This is a box. You can put an item in or take an item out."

 _Very informative._

"The same box will appear later, so don't worry about coming back - oh cool." Frisk glanced over the wooden box, and she was reminded of a small toy chest. Dark brown stripes ran down the side, and it looked as if the box had been moved there recently from the lack of snow on the top. There was a golden lock that was conveniently already open. She blew into her hands, trying to warm them up.

"Sincerely, a box lover."

Frisk looked inside, seeing there was a single, light pink glove laying, crumpled and coated in a thin layer of dust. She picked it up, shaking the glove to get rid of the dirt clinging to it, then slipped it on. She stretched the fabric as she opened and closed her palm. It was a little small for her, the pink leather choking her fingers with a desperate plea to stop being worn, but she could wear it without losing sensation in her hand. Although she couldn't really tell with her hands being already as cold as they were.

Her other hand cried out, declaring that this was favoritism. Frisk muffled it's crying by shoving it into her pocket. She squeaked as she felt the freezing fingertips brush against her leg, sending shivers up her spine. She should probably get out of the snow soon.

Frisk took a glance down the path that hugged the canyon, parts of it falling down into the abyss below. She then noticed a strange, light-blue bird fluttering towards her, and she promptly took several steps back, hands raised. There was an odd, white structure spread across the bird's face that reminded her of a snowflake, a long, yellow beak that was stuffed with flat teeth, and narrowed, cat-like eyes glaring at her. There was a plumage of feathers raised from behind it's head, making it's already tall stature, grow several more unnecessary inches. The bird smelled like grease and hormones, with a hint of teenage rebellion.

The bird fluffed out it's feathers even further as it came closer. Alright, so this monster wasn't going to let her through. She reached her gloved hand down into her pocket, pulling out the knife and held it out towards the monster.

"Chill," Frisk hesitated, feeling her knees complaining about the cold. She switched from one foot to the other to keep the ice from nipping at her toes.

"Is that a pun?" The monster's feathers lowered slightly, eyes narrowing. Frisk's eyes widened, then she felt her arm lower slightly.

"Um...Yes." The monster snorted, it's feathers ruffling.

"I've heard that one." Suddenly, it's wings spread out, crescent shaped feathers flying forth, rotating like a spinning blade. Frisk jumped out of the way, the feathers nearly catching her leg. Frisk saw the monster chuckle, then flap it's chicken-like wings. Frisk felt her brow crease in confusion.

 _Behind you!_

Frisk jerked her head around, seeing the feathers coming back around for another pass. She jumped to the left, her elbows skidding against the snow and ice slipped into her shirt. She yipped in shock at the sudden cold in her clothes, her thorn wounds quick to bark out complaints and stinging insults. She pushed herself back up, watching the feathers go towards the monster and circle it.

"Better not _snow_ flake out!" It flapped its light blue wings again, the feathers making another round. This time they scattered, coming in at all sorts of directions. Frisk hit the deck, covering her head like this was a hurricane drill. A feather nicked her arm, and she bit back a retort. Frisk saw the monster pause at her dodging, then the feathers returned back to the monster.

 _It looks like it's expecting something._

Frisk glanced down, her eyes scanning the snow for a second before she looked up at the monster and realized what he was expecting. She chuckled hesitantly.

"See!?" Frisk winced at the sudden increase of volume. "Laughs! Dad was wrong!" She saw the beak on the monster's face show a toothy grin. She paused, rolling with this as she smiled.

"Do you know more jokes?" she asked, her eyes trailing on the feathers as they slowed down.

"Do I!" The monster fluttered it's wings as the feathers dropped from the sky and landed in the snow. "Alright, alright, Snowdrake play it cool." The newly dubbed Snowdrake chuckled at it's sudden pun. "Ice puns are _snow_ problem!" Frisk did let out an honest snicker this time. This caused the bird to let of a squawk of joy, then flutter even closer.

Frisk noticed that, without the plumage raised and his feathers stretched out, this monster actually was shorter then her. It was only by a few inches, but it was a little jarring to see something that was so threatening just a moment ago suddenly be so much shorter than her.

"That's a good one," Frisk commented, then shook her shirt. Bits of snow that hadn't already melted fell off and returned to their home on the ground. "My name is Frisk, what's your name?" She had heard him say his name before, but she didn't want to sound rude.

"My name is Snowdrake!" They ruffled their feathers, their plumage growing slightly.

"Well, Snowdrake, it's 'ice' to meet you!" Frisk slipped the knife back into her pocket, stuck out her gloved hand for a handshake, then realized the monster had no hands to shake. The monster gave another toothy grin, then reached out, taking her hand in his beak _. Oh... I guess that works...?_

Suddenly the monster jerked her forward a little. She stumbled forward, the monster suddenly opening it's mouth and biting her bicep, yanking her so her head was below his eye level. "I have to show you to my friends!" Frisk yelped as Snowdrake dragged her down the path hugging the cliff's edge.

"W-wait - ow!" Frisk instead felt him pull harder. She pushed at his beak, his upper beak lifting up from the sudden force with strength she didn't know she had. She pulled out her arm, taking several steps back as the monster fell on it's rear. "Don't bite my arm! That hurts!" Frisk pulled her newly injured arm to her chest. The monster fluttered it's wings, it's beak opening and closing. It looked to be hurting.

"Don't push my beak! That hurts!" Frisk narrowed her eyes. Was he even listening, or were they mocking her? The monster looked up at her, its eyes narrowed. She held that narrowed stare for several seconds as they both glared at each other. Finally Frisk let out a sigh of defeat.

"Fine, but don't bite me," Frisk grumbled as she glanced down, seeing the teeth marks. At least these marks didn't break off and embed themselves in her skin like Flowey's vines. "You can take me to your friends, but you could of just asked instead of biting me."

Snowdrake glanced at Frisk's arm, confusion and then realization slipping over his features. He then ruffled his feathers. "I'm going to go get them instead." Snowdrake waved a wing down the path. "The trail through the forest is pretty hard to get lost in so just follow it and I'll catch up with you." He opened and closed his beak several times, then continued. _Did I really hurt his beak that bad?_ " _Icee_ you later!" Frisk paused, then forced out a soft chuckle to keep him from going into an attack mode.

The ice bird grinned wider, then hopped over the the edge of the cliff. Frisk's eyes widened as she ran over, her eyes scanning down the canyon to look for the fallen bird. Instead, Snowdrake rose up from the crevice, then flew down the pathway, its meek chicken wings flapping more like humming bird wings. Frisk sighed, then brushed herself off from the encounter.

Maybe she would be lucky and Snowdrake's friends would be the only monsters in the forest. Frisk headed down the pathway like Snowdrake said, rubbing her arm softly. She glanced down, seeing the nick in her arm had already stopped bleeding, although the bite probably wasn't going to go away for a few days. She wondered if Toriel's magic was still somehow affecting her, but pushed the thought aside when she nearly tripped over a rock. She needed to focus on walking in the slippery path, the last thing she needed to do was fall down the canyon.

"So, as I was saying about Undyne..." Frisk froze, her head jerking up to see the ever present Papyrus and Sans. She stiffened as Sans glanced her way, then Papyrus followed his view.

Sans and Frisk looked at Papyrus while Papyrus looked at the human. They switched, Frisk and Papyrus looked at Sans while Sans looked at the human. They switched, Sans and Frisk looked at Papyrus while Papyrus looked at the human. They kept switching views from the human to Sans to Papyrus then back to the human. Frisk found herself and the skeletons switching suddenly so quickly that she found herself spinning instead of actually looking.

They all stopped at once. Frisk felt like she was going through whiplash from doing all that spinning.

"OH MY GOD! SANS! IT'S A HUMAN! AND THEY LOOK SO FAMILIAR TOO!" Frisk's dizzy mind just barely put those words together and attached them to Papyrus.

"Uh... Bro, I think they look familiar... Because they're a rock." Frisk rubbed her skull, looking up at Sans, then took a moment to look back at the rock that had nearly caused her to slip into the canyon. What?

"Oh..." Frisk blinked, her head spinning back around to Papyrus. Was he actually falling for that? And... he hadn't yelled that out? Frisk didn't even know Papyrus could speak in a lower tone.

"Hey bro, what's that in front of the rock?" Sans motioned to Frisk, causing her posture to straighten. _Alright. I guess this is happening._ Papyrus's eyes locked onto Frisk, and then he squealed. Frisk's ears complained loudly at the noise. Perhaps Papyrus could yell so much because he didn't have vocal chords, nor ears to hear when he was screaming his head off.

"SANS!" Suddenly Papyrus edged closer to the smaller brother and leaned in, whispering. "Is that a human?" Sans's smile widened as he leaned in.

"Yes."

"OH MY GOD!" Papyrus leaped up, suddenly jumping from one foot to the other like a happy school girl finding out she had been asked out to the prom by the coolest skeleton in school. "SANS! I FINALLY DID IT! UNDYNE WILL... I'M GONNA... I'LL BE SO... POPULAR! POPULAR! POPULAR!" Papyrus chanted, grabbing Sans and slinging the poor brother over his shoulder as he spun around. Frisk visibly winced, watching the poor skeleton's bones knocking against his brother's, emitting an awful rattling sound that, if not for the smile on both of their faces, she would have assumed was painful. She couldn't imagine herself getting flung around like that without feeling the urge to puke either. Frisk let Papyrus celebrate for another minute, letting him cherish this moment as he tossed his brother around like a rag doll. Sans looked like he was enjoying the moment as well, but he looked to be enjoying Papyrus's happiness rather than the prospect of finding a human.

"Ahem..." Frisk cleared her throat, prompting Papyrus to quickly put Sans back down and brush off his... clothes? It looked more like some sort of armor in all honesty. Papyrus pointed an accusing finger at Frisk.

"HUMAN! YOU SHALL NOT PASS THIS AREA! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL STOP YOU! I WILL THEN CAPTURE YOU! THEN YOU WILL BE DELIVERED TO THE CAPITAL! THEN! THEN... I DON'T REALLY KNOW WHAT'S NEXT." Papyrus looked down, conflicted for a moment, but then quickly reaffirmed his position. "ANYWHO, CONTINUE HUMAN! ONLY IF YOU DARE!" Papyrus then spun around and took off down the path, laughing all the way.

Frisk watched Papyrus run off, not quite feeling as threatened as she thought she would have. Papyrus... wasn't that scary. She would have thought with his ridiculously tall and skinny stature she would have been terrified, but she wasn't. Something about the way he spoke, perhaps it was that spark of life in his eye?

She sighed, realizing she had been standing too long and she needed to move forward or else she would freeze. Frisk glanced at Sans, noticing he was watching her with a hesitant expression. Frisk raised an eyebrow at him, confused to what he was hesitating about. He shrugged.

"Don't worry kid, I'll keep an eye-socket out for ya," he said simply, then walked off after his brother. Frisk followed behind, passing a shakily built watchtower. She glanced curiously at a passing sign that read; 'Absolutely NO MOVING!' She looked up at Sans, ready to ask why was there no moving - wait... where did he go?

Frisk glanced around, then saw Sans was suddenly up ahead with his brother, talking to each other.

Well... now there were two questions running around in Frisk's already cluttered mind. She huffed, rubbing her arms again to keep the blood flowing to her hands. She found the longer she stayed out here, the less and less feeling she had in them. Her legs were on constant pins and needles and she was pretty sure she needed to find some place warm soon.

Suddenly Frisk felt her phone ring and vibrate noisily in her pocket. She quickly reached in an fumbled the cellphone open and placed it to her ear.

"Is your refrigerator running?" A familiar, skeleton voice asked with a curious tone. Frisk raised an eyebrow, half wondering if this was a prank or perhaps Sans had called the wrong number.

"No," Frisk told him, trying to stop his possible joke... she didn't have a fridge anyways, so it wasn't like she was lying.

"Okay, I'll send someone over to fix it. Thanks for letting me know. Good communication is important." Frisk heard the phone click, then she shrugged. Alright. Apparently he wasn't joking - unless he tried to make a joke of her trying to stop his joke.

She passed by another watch tower - How many of these were there? Frisk hummed, curious if more guard towers meant more guards, or if perhaps only the skeleton brothers were the guards.

"Did something move?" Frisk immediately stopped in place, her eyes glancing to the side to see a... dog? She turned her head -then felt something slice right past her cheek. Her eyes went wide as she saw several strands of her hair float unceremoniously into the snow at her feet.

 _Don't move._

Frisk didn't.

"... Was it my imagination?" The black and white dog wondered out loud, a red bone held in his maw that was lit like a burning cigarette. The smell of charcoal was present in the air. Frisk bit back the urge to cough. "Why was I born so only I can see moving things..." The dog grumbled, climbing over the check point's desk and landed in the snow. No, this wasn't a normal dog, this was another bipedal monster. This monster wore a light pink tank top with a dog's face stitched into the top that was tucked into a brown belt that held up brown camo pants. He wasn't wearing shoes so his hind paws sunk into the snow, but he didn't seem to mind.

Frisk felt jealous of the animal's fur as she forced herself to stop shivering so she wouldn't get hurt. Frisk's gloved hand was held right above the pocket that held her knife, she wanted to reach down to perhaps threaten the dog with it, but she feared if she moved, she wouldn't even get to make a word. "Don't move an inch!" Frisk felt the dog reach out it's paw, a knife held so close to her skin she started to break out in a nervous sweat.

Before she could have reacted, a blue sword suddenly extended out of the knife, making it grow almost a foot. The weapon then sliced into Frisk.

By the time she flinched, the sword was already through her, clean through her body and pushed out on the other side without a peep of resistance. She wanted to jump back, scream in fear and just run, but something, some kind of emotion that was a jumble of horror, rage, and pure, unbridled Determination.

And for a second, Frisk realized that this wasn't her.

She wasn't moving, Frisk couldn't even process what had happened. A sword had just flown through her body, yet she wasn't bleeding out. She wasn't slowly dying at this monster's feet. She hadn't even been scratched. She felt the urge to look down and examine where the dog's sword had impacted her, but that same feeling stopped her. Instead she felt something... talk.

 _Act._

Frisk felt the command resonate in her soul. She couldn't just try to process this, she needed to act. She was wasting precious seconds trying to rationalize monsters, which she said before she needed to stop doing. Frisk dove forward, arms outstretched as she wrapped her body around the monster.

Both of them felt into shock. The dog was completely shocked that nothing moved and then something magically appeared and disappeared, and now he had something attached to his body like some kind of leech. Frisk was much more shocked for a much more primal reason.

Warmth.

It was like a slap to the face just how warm this monster was. Frisk's eyes went wide as she rubbed her face against his fur, suddenly feeling the cold stinging all around her body. She hadn't realize truly just how freezing she was. The dog suddenly yelped out the word pet, pot, and other variations of the word as he jerked around, trying to get the human off of him. Frisk continued to hold on for dear life, but she suddenly felt herself be pulled off of the monster and land into the snow. Oh god when did snow get so utterly freezing?!

"Alright, I need to think about this..." The dog huffed, shaking slightly. "Petpotpetpot," The dog chanted while jumping back into it's watch tower.

Frisk didn't feel herself stand up, she just was up. She breathed in, finding the air around her made her insides burn. Her fingers - she couldn't feel them they felt too cold. Her pins and needles legs had just become one giant needle stabbing into her thighs over and over. Her brain slowly came to the realization she needed to find warmth. The dog monster had been a slap to the face of just what warmth was, and she couldn't believe she had been walking through this much cold this entire time.

Frisk felt her legs step into the snow as she moved forward, spotting Sans while he looked at her, his eye sockets indeed watching her, although he looked increasingly more and more conflicted. His hands were still in his pockets.

"Hey kiddo," Sans started but Frisk was quick to interrupt.

"Is there an inside anywhere near here?" Sans looked at her, his bone creased in confusion.

"An inside?" Sans chuckled, "I'm sure there's an inside inside you." Frisk paused, then shook her head.

"A - uh Town area, City, Capital, Home I can just sit in and melt for a bit?" she listed examples. Why was her brain running so slow? She had been fine just a minute ago... Had she really been so cold she hadn't noticed her brain already running slow?

"Oh, there's Snowdin, which is right through the forest." He reached up one of his fingers to scrape against his skull. The noise of bone against bone made her goosebumps have goosebumps. "Although at this rate it may take a while for you to get there," he explained. Frisk hung her head low as she looked at the next area, exasperated.

"Alright..." She blinked, then realized she had another shirt. Some extra bulk didn't even compare to keeping her body from freezing off. She took out her phone, opened the storage and shuffled between the stuffed animals and the leftover pie to pull out another shirt. She noted Sans was watching curiously. Frisk closed the storage and slipped another shirt over her body. The extra layer immediately helping as she wiggled her body so her arms were inside the shirts. Her arms happily hummed as feeling slowly returned, but her legs cried out pitifully as they were forced to face the cold with no protection.

"I'm guessing you're," Sans paused. "chilled to the bone." Frisk promptly heard the drums return and she rolled her eyes.

"I'm not a skeleton, I got things I want to keep warm," Frisk explained, rotating her shoulders as the sleeves moved around lazily. "... Hey, you know things, right?"

"I know some things," Sans explained cheekily with a shrug. Frisk took that as he was officially her go-to monster to learn what's what in the underground. She hoped this guide didn't turn on her.

"Alright, so, back there, on the path there was this dog monster, and he hit me with his sword - but it didn't do anything?"

Sans nodded, his arms crossed is fake seriousness. "Well, that's what we in the underground call a blue attack. You can tell, because the attack is blue." Sans jabbed his thumb up ahead. "My brother also has a special attack, you'll be able to tell when it happens..." Sans took a moment to shove his hands back into his pockets. "Whenever you see a blue attack, don't move."

"Oh, alright." Frisk nodded slowly. "I... well that makes no sense at all but... logic isn't really working down here."

"Seems perfectly normal to me." Sans simply shrugged, then slipped something out of his pocket and tossed it over. Frisk jumped, then caught it. She looked down to see... looked up at him, confused. "You might need that."

Frisk thanked Sans with a nod, then moved on. She noticed a frozen lake that she nearly slipped on, and to avoid it she walked around the perimeter. Half way around the lake she spotted another pathway, this one leading to an edge of the cliff. Curiously, she saw a snowman built on the edge, looking out into the canyon's depths. She walked up, peering over the edge to see little trees, not unlike the ones around her now, slowly growing. A cold wind blew past and she shivered.

"Hello." Frisk jumped, nearly slipping and falling over the edge. She looked up to see... the snowman... looking at her. She moved her head, the snowman's snow head following her. The little rational part of her brain promptly tore out it's hair.

"Oh... hi?" Frisk stood up, noticing the snowman wasn't very big, just a few inches taller then her, like Sans. She couldn't tell if Sans or this snowman was bigger though. "Are you..?"

"A snowman?" The monster hummed. Their voice was very tired and depressed, like a great weight hung from their vocal chords. "Yes, I am a talking snowman."

"Oh..." Frisk brushed off a bit of snow that clung to her shirt. "Are... you going to attack me?"

"No," the snowman lamely spoke, like the question itself was unnecessary. Frisk stood next to the snowman for several seconds before they spoke again. "I have always wanted to see the world, but I am unable to move..." Their head turned to Frisk. "Traveler, would you mind taking a piece of me and taking it very far away?" Frisk paused at the request.

"Won't that hurt you?" Frisk raised a finger. "And, unless the entire underground is cold like this, won't that piece of you melt?"

The snowman shook its head. "I am merely a snowman, I have no feeling through my body, and the snow will not melt if kept in storage," they clarified, then glanced to the pocket that held her phone. Frisk faltered, looking up at the snowman, feeling like perhaps they were lying. The snowman's coal gaze didn't look even the slightest bit hesitant. Frisk sighed in defeat.

"Alright." Frisk relented to the snowman's wishes. She took out her phone and grabbed a snowballs worth of sleet from the snowman and packed it together into a convent to carry ball. She stored it away as she saw the snowman smile comfortably, exhaustion evident on their white features.

"Thank you."

Frisk headed back down, waving to Sans as she headed down the path across from him. She watched the pine forest thin out, the trees growing scarcer by each passing minute. Frisk felt her chest start to tighten as she recognized that if there was no trees, monsters from miles away could spot her without having to traverse through a single path in a very thick forest. Frisk spotted an area where the trees stopped entirely, a familiar red caped skeleton talking to a much smaller one wearing slippers.

Wait, when did Sans pass her?

As Frisk got closer, she saw a square area had been cleared of snow, leaving a thin layer of freshly fallen snow that was the friendly powder that often caused kids to start snowball fights. She caught the end of Papyrus's conversation.

"Really though! That human, do I know that person?" Frisk tilted her head slightly, she hadn't ever met the skeleton before, so she didn't think she knew him.

"So, do you not know... who you know?"

"PFPFPFPF!" Frisk had no idea what that sound was, but she doubted skeletons could of made it. "OF COURSE I KNOW WHO I KNOW!" Suddenly Papyrus's screeching voice was back and louder then ever. "I JUST WANTED TO KNOW IF YOU KNOW I KNOW AS MUCH AS I KNOW I KNOW WHO I KNOW... YOU KNOW?"

Frisk just barely followed that string of words before Papyrus turned, noticing her. Sans turned as well,

"Oh- ho! SPEAK OF THE DEVIL!" Frisk winced, feeling Papyrus's words roll around and echo inside her skull. Why was he so loud? "IN ORDER TO STOP YOU, ME AND MY BROTHER HAVE CREATED SOME PUZZLES! I THINK YOU WILL FIND THIS ONE... QUITE SHOCKING!" Papyrus then laughed a big hearty chuckle, like he had made another pun. When Frisk looked at him with confusion, Papyrus paused. "Oh- FOR YOU SEE, THIS IS THE INVISIBLE... ELECTRICITY MAZE!" Oh. It was a pun. "WHEN YOU TOUCH THE WALLS OF THIS MAZE, THIS ORB," Papyrus held up a blue orb that was the color of the sky, a soft buzz vibrating from it. "WILL ADMINISTER A HEARTY ZAP! SOUND LIKE FUN?" Some part of her groaned, another part of her ached. She didn't need to get shocked... "BECAUSE! THE AMOUNT OF FUN YOU WILL PROBABLY ACTUALLY HAVE IS QUITE SMALL I think..." Papyrus then motioned for her to move forward. "OKAY HUMAN, YOU CAN GO AHEAD NOW."

Frisk took a moment to shoot a conflicted glare at Sans. He motioned for her to move with a tilt of his head.

"I don't like being zapped..." Frisk murmured, then held back a flinch as she stepped forward.

Frisk heard a loud cry of pain. Shockingly, it didn't come from her. The human jerked her head up to see Papyrus jumping around, a visible electric current flowing through his bones like lighting. Frisk jumped back, arms raised in a hope to keep the armored skeleton from attacking. The lightning from the orb stopped, Sans looking at his brother up and down for several seconds, then waving to Frisk that he was okay. Sans leaned over his fallen brother, the tall skeleton's bones charred in an almost cartoonish fashion.

"Hey bro, I think they have to hold the orb."

"Oh! Okay!" Papyrus popped up, one of his gloved hands raised to the sky. It was as if nothing happened, like he didn't just get struck by lightning from a magic orb. Papyrus walked through the maze, leaving a pattern of footsteps in the soft snow. Frisk watched him, curiously watching him walk up to her, and then she saw just how tall he was in comparison to her. He was skinny, like toothpicks glued together and given life because magic, yet he was so tall. She dared to even say he rivaled Toriel in height. His white armor gleamed in magic sunlight, adding bulk to his body that he desperately needed. He was like the opposite of Sans in almost every way.

And then he threw up the orb in the air. Frisk's eyes started to follow the orb, but then she saw movement right in the corner of her eye, she looked down to see Papyrus running back through the maze, his feet making more imprints in the snow. She felt the orb come back down, and smack her on top of her head.

Frisk yelped, the orb falling off of her head as she collapsed into the snow, grabbing onto her skull as tears formed in the corner of her eyes. Her head pulsed with a new wave of aches and pains, her fingers slipping through her hair and pulled at the scalp as she shook.

"HUMAN-" Papyrus started but Frisk felt his voice become too much for her, she flopped into the snow, holding onto her head as her brain throbbed. "THE ORB HAS NOT ZAPPED YOU, WHY HAVE YOU FALLEN?"

"Bro, I think human heads are weak to orbs." Frisk heard Sans explain.

"WEAK?! TO ORBS? THAT MAKES NO SENSE!" Frisk pushed herself back up, feeling a lump already start to form on the top of her head. She rubbed the spot gently as she sat in the snow. She looked down to see her legs were red from the cold. "HUMAN, THAT WAS NOT PART OF THE PUZZLE."

Frisk nodded, rubbing the little bits of tears that formed out of her eyes. Her head complained about the movement, the cold, and anything else that they didn't like. Frisk stood back up, picking up the orb in her hand as she rubbed her head with the other.

Frisk saw the great Papyrus's footprints still in the snow, showing a clear pathway to the other side. Frisk raised her hand, causing Sans to raise an eyebrow. Papyrus looked at her, then pointed to the human.

"YES, HUMAN?"

"There's a problem with the puzzle," Frisk explained, hoping that it would help her get on Papyrus' not wanting to capture her and send her to the castle side.

"WHAAAT?!" Papyrus sounded loudly offended. Frisk winced. "I ASSURE YOU THIS PUZZLE HAS NO PROBLEMS OF THE SORT!" Papyrus folded his arms, sticking up his skeleton nose. "CLEARLY THE HUMAN HAS NO APPRECIATION OF THE FINER THINGS IN LIFE, SUCH AS WELL CRAFTED PUZZLES BUILT BY THE GREAT PAPYRUS."

Frisk knit her brows together at the skeleton's slight ego, but let it go and just followed his footprints across the puzzle. By the time she reached the other side, the hair on her arms was sticking up from all the static electricity.

"INCREDIBLE YOU SLIPPERY SNAIL YOU SOLVED IT SO EASILY!" Frisk glanced at the footsteps Papyrus had made. "Too easily... HOWEVER! THE NEXT PUZZLE WILL NOT BE SO EASY! IT IS DESIGNED BY MY BROTHER, SANS! YOU WILL SURELY BE CONFOUNDED! I KNOW I AM!" Frisk felt her shoulders slouch. There was more? Papyrus let out his signature laugh, then ran off. Frisk winced when he suddenly slipped on some snow and went flying out of sight.

Both Frisk and Sans watched for several seconds before he suddenly came out from behind a tree and announced very loudly that he was 'QUITE ALRIGHT!' And then he was off again. Frisk noticed Sans had shook his head slightly.

"Hey. So, about the next puzzle-" Frisk started, hoping to get some hint about what she should expect, but Sans waved his hand.

"Don't worry." The slightly taller skeleton stuck his hands in his jacket pockets, his eyes watching where his brother had disappeared to. Frisk glanced downwards, looking at her own three layers of protection, thankfully her torso seemed to be much more content, but her legs had much more to complain about. The fact that she was wearing shorts in the snow seemed to be something that no sensible person would do.

"How far is Snowdin from here?" Sans glanced at Frisk, then shrugged.

"Not that far, just keep following the path." Frisk nodded, then took a step forward, ready to head off. "Hey, thanks." Frisk turned her head, curious as to why he was thanking her. "My brother seems to be having fun." Frisk snorted, the image of Papyrus dancing around excitedly and dragging Sans around was still present in her mind.

"It's no problem," Frisk hummed, a soft smile present on her features. "But, why are his clothes like that?" Sans turned, suddenly a small sense of seriousness hung over his features, it was shrouded behind his usual demeanor of not caring, but for a split second she saw it. Frisk backpedaled, a sudden claw of fear raking down her back. "I mean! -why is he wearing armor, and not something to keep himself warm - or something more like..." Frisk's voice died out, her hands pulling down her shirt in some small attempt to perhaps hide behind the clothes without it being obvious. She glanced down at her gloved hand, reminding herself she did have a knife.

"It was for a costume contest a few weeks ago, he hasn't taken it off since." Frisk's eyes met the skeleton's. He gave a sudden playful wink, like he was mentally telling her to chill out. She breathed out loudly, causing hints of hesitation to ebb at his not caring attitude. He continued on, "He calls it his 'Battle Body'."Sans's grin grew. "Man. Isn't my brother so cool?"

Frisk decided that just nodding and not potentially angering the skeleton in front of her was the best course of action. She waved her hand, leaving awkwardly before she had to answer with actual words. Cool wasn't quite the word she would use to describe Papyrus. He was much more... quirky? Was that the word?

 _Dork?_

 _No..._

 _Fool?_

 _No..._

 _Freak?_

 _These are just getting progressively meaner- I'm looking for a good thing... and I wouldn't call Papyrus a freak on my worst day._

Frisk spotted a monster, shaking her out of her thoughts as she prepared for another fight. The monster was taller then Sans, but not quite as tall as Papyrus. Little bunny ears sprung from the side of it's head, a thin layer of vibrant blue fur covered it's body, making her instantly jealous. The bipedal, blue bunny was wearing a golden t-shirt and bright red trousers that were held up by two equally striking straps. It was leaning against a steel ice cream cart, a colorful red and yellow striped umbrella hanging as if it was depressed. The monster wasn't looking any better.

"I don't know why these aren't selling... it's the perfect weather for something cold..." The monster murmured sadly. Frisk cleared her throat, causing the bunny to look up, it's ears perking as a grin settled over it's previously upset features. "Oh - a customer!" Frisk felt her eyes widen, the fact that this monster wouldn't attack her for no reason seemed almost like a foreign concept. "Hello! Would you like to buy some Nicecream? It's the frozen treat that warms your heart!"

Frisk felt her legs bark sadly at the mention of the word frozen. She glanced down at the coin Sans had given her earlier. Was this what he thought she needed?

"How much does it cost?"

The bunny seemed ecstatic by the thought of someone buying their Nice-Cream so much they practically were jumping with joy."Only fifteen Gold!" Frisk paused, then held out her single coin. The rabbit glanced down, then looked back at her, expecting something. His ears tilted down slightly. "Ah... that's... Only one Gold..." They explained softly, a pitiful look on their face.

Frisk looked down, confused. Why had Sans given her a single coin? What could you buy for a single coin in this world? A single ice cream cost fifteen gold! Frisk sighed and pocket the coin, apologizing to the monster. As she walked away, the monster suddenly called out to her.

"Wait! Hold on a second!" Frisk turned to see a wrapped nicecream shoved in her face. "It looks like you need this." Frisk looked at the bar of cold ice cream in her hand, then nodded a thank you.

"If there's anywhere warm, your nicecream might sell better," Frisk suggested as she stored away the nicecreamnext to the Snowman Piece. She left the monster to ponder the idea, glancing back just to make sure they didn't suddenly attack now that she had one of their products.

They crossed another smaller bridge that she could have jumped across if she wanted to. She didn't jump across though, because she realized if did jump across, that would be an unnecessary risk that she didn't need to take. She was already surrounded by monsters, a majority wanting to take her soul or kidnap her, she didn't need to try and provoke lady luck to end her journey prematurely via slipping down a cavern and dying a painful and cold death.

Frisk shivered.

There was a clearing in the next area with a path heading downwards, a large snowball laying in the center that was almost as big as she was. She spotted Sans standing across the clearing, a grin on his face as she glanced behind her, confused. Sans had passed her again without her noticing. She assumed he had ran past perhaps when she was talking to the blue bunny monster. She walked up to him, an eyebrow raised.

"Hey. I'm thinking of starting up my own business. Want some fried snow? It's only 5G."

Frisk shook her head, she didn't quite think that she could afford such a steep price, then offered the same advice she had told the bunny. "I wouldn't sell cold things in the cold, it's a little too... cold," She explained, then glanced towards the area behind Sans. It was clearly a dead end with two watch towers side by side. Frisk found the fact that there was not only one, but two watch towers at a dead end quite strange. How could you watch for humans if you were stuck in a corner out of sight?

Either way, Frisk avoided the dead end in fear of another monster attack. She turned, waving to Sans as she headed down. She noticed an odd path set up, a small frozen lake sitting in the corner. When she came across a clear indicator of a golf hole, she was hit with realization that she was standing on a golf course. She turned back around, suddenly feeling eager to play the game. Frisk knew a tiny part of her was using this to warm herself up, but another part complained about the fact she needed to get moving.

The large snowball from the top was a lot lighter then she anticipated, as soon as she pushed it, the ball went flying, chucks falling out as it hit the edge of the course and bounced off of a visible magic field. She hummed curiously before she watched the ball bounced back around and land across the frozen lake. Frisk jogged around the small lake and pushed the ball across. The ball went flying again as it hit another part of the magic field surrounding the golf course before it bounced behind the golf hole. The ball was half her size now. She stepped onto the lake, intending to slid across, but instead she slipped and landed harshly on her rear.

She stood back up, then slipped again. She continued to slip for several more seconds before she heard a chuckle. She looked up to see a grinning Sans watching her on the edge of the frozen lake.

"Frozen lakes are my weakness apparently," Frisk stated plainly, earning a snicker from Sans. She pushed herself back up, the ice feeling like needles of cold stabbing into her body when she touched it with her hands.

"Here kiddo, let me just slide over there and push you off the ice," Sans explained, his slipper stepping onto the ice.

Frisk then heard something disturbingly loud.

A cracking noise.

Frisk felt her own expression slowly fall as she looked down to see several cracks webbing out into the ice from under her own foot. Her shoulders tensed up, her eyes widening to take in the details of just where the cracks were going.

"Sans-" Frisk started, "Get off the ice." Frisk hoped her tone was serious enough sounding that he didn't take it as a joke. She glanced up to see Sans looking at her confused, then his normally static expression slipping into something she couldn't determine as his gaze settled on the problem expanding under her body.

"Kid, can you swim?"

Frisk felt her heart start to race. She felt a sort of embarrassment for the fact that she didn't know how to exactly flap her arms just right to keep her head above water. But that embarrassment was drowned out by the fact the ice under her was starting to move.

"... I... Never learned how...", She raised her foot, trying to take a step back before the ground under her suddenly shuttered under her weight. Frisk looked up to see the blue bunny monster from before a little father away, sort of jogging/hopping over. "There's also the fact that humans plus water plus extreme cold equals one less human." Sans apparently had not known this because he was suddenly looking a lot more attentive and quite tense over this fact. Frisk reached down, pulling her phone, knife, coin, and anything else of value out of her pocket and threw at as hard as she could away from the cracking ice.

The ground broke, the ice detaching itself. She tried to jump back, but the ice underneath her didn't seem keen on supporting her. She took as deep of a breath as she could before she felt the water hit her.

The water was burning cold, her eyes opened immediately, the water pounding against her head. Her senses were dulled, her hearing reduced to nothing more then the muffled sounds of panic from above. Her gaze looking up as she saw she was sinking through the blurry lens of what she was fighting against. There was a shot of panic and adrenaline that ruptured through her, legs kicking and her arms attempting to grab onto the ice. She felt her hand scrape against the bottom of a sheet of ice, seeing the shadows up above visibly panicking. She kicked again, trying to mimic what she had seen others do. She was only remaining where she was by the air in her lungs.

And then she felt her lungs start to ache.

She looked at the shadows above, seeing suddenly the ice cracking. Frisk felt her own mind panic as she imagined them suddenly falling in. She wasn't quite sure how monsters reacted to the freezing water, but she was quite sure it wouldn't end well. Frisk flailed, her hands reaching up and she suddenly realized she couldn't feel her legs. She caught vague motion from above, taking a second to look down and see her legs moving still, but she couldn't feel it.

Oh dear.

That wasn't good.

Frisk felt her head bonk against the bottom of the ice. Her hands reached up, feeling the smooth surface up above.

Her mouth had opened, a rush of bubbles screaming out. She hadn't opened it on purpose. It just... happened. She didn't realize how much she truly needed air until her body commanded she take in a deep breath.

With her lungs now filled with icy water that scalded her insides, she was no longer able to keep her head near the ice. Little bubbles meekly floated towards the surface as she felt her body start to sink. She blinked slowly, watching the ice suddenly crack from up above. There was several figures, all dark and blurry from under the waves.

Frisk meekly felt a sense of calmness wrap around her. It quelled her panic as her hands slowly stopped their movements. Bits of her vision flickered and if she had the ability, Frisk would have realized that she couldn't move. The cold grip of the water around her pulled her down, even as she saw a large beam of unfiltered light shine from above the surface of the water.

Frisk's body ached, her hand numbly reaching upwards, vaguely brushing past something, but she failed to grab on.

Her sense of sight flicked out, the noises of the water around her dulling until nothing remained. The water tasted bitter in her mouth as her body had been apparently gagging for air the entire time, but she couldn't feel it.

She couldn't feel anything.

* * *

"I don't know why these aren't selling... It's the perfect weather for something cold..." The monster murmured sadly. Frisk cleared her throat, causing the bunny monster from before to look up, it's ears perking as a grin settled over it's previously upset features. "Oh - a customer!" Frisk felt her grin widen, the fact that this monster wouldn't attack her for no reason seemed almost like a foreign concept. "Hello! Would you like to buy some Nice-Cream? It's the frozen treat that warms your heart!"

Frisk felt her legs bark sadly at the mention of the word frozen. She glanced down at the coin Sans had given her earlier. Was this what he thought she needed?

"How much does it cost?" The bunny seemed ecstatic by the thought of someone buying their Nice-Cream so much they practically were jumping with joy.

"Only fifteen Gold!" Frisk paused, then held out her coin. The rabbit glanced down, then looked back at her, expecting something. His ears tilted down slightly. "Ah... that's... only one Gold..." They explained softly, a pitiful look on their face.

Frisk looked down, confused. Oh, that's pretty obvious though... Frisk sighed and pocket the coin, apologizing to the monster. As she walked away, the monster suddenly called out to her.

"Wait! Hold on a second!" Frisk turned to see a wrapped nicecream shoved in her face. She didn't flinch. "It looks like you need this." Frisk looked at the bar of cold ice cream in her hand, then handed the bar back to the monster, a small shaking of her head as she refused the handout.

"If there's anywhere warm, your nicecream might sell better," Frisk repeated as she handed back the nicecream to the poor bunny monster. She left the monster to ponder the idea, glancing back happily as she watched the monster turn around and start packing it's things, the suggestion apparently sparking an idea.

They crossed another smaller bridge that she could have jumped across if she wanted to. She didn't jump across though, because she realized if did jump across, that would be an unnecessary risk that she didn't need to take. She was already surrounded by monsters, a majority wanting to take her soul or kidnap her, she didn't need to try and provoke lady luck to end her journey prematurely via slipping down a cavern and dying a painful and cold death.

Frisk shivered.

Then she blinked.

Wait.

Frisk felt thoroughly confused, her eyes looking over the snowball that was her height right in front of her. She looked at Sans, his form slouched slightly against a tree a little father away. She then turned her head to look at the frozen lake not broken and cracked.

Oh.

That... what? Frisk raised her hands quickly, her shoulders tensing while she suddenly felt her face.

What **.**

What.

What.

Frisk attempted to lean on the snowball, only for it to go flying out from under her and causing her to land on her rear.

What. What. What.

Frisk felt her entire brain display an error message. Then the error message caught on fire. Then the fire turned into ice because none of this was making sense.

Frisk turned, then made a beeline for the frozen lake, ignoring the snowball entirely. She gazed down as it's smooth surface, her eye twitching slightly as she looked at her reflection. Her hair was matted up on the left as if she had slept in wrong. Her triple sweater technique made her look like an inflated balloon, and the lovely single glove on her hand with shorts just added to the joy of her clearly insane expression.

 _You look horrible_.

 _Thank you random voice in my head._

"Hey kiddo." Frisk had jumped almost a foot into the air, then just barely managed to keep herself from falling over. The freaked out human looked up at Sans, his own expression unreadable. "I wouldn't step on that lake. If you do it will probably... chill you to the bone."

And there's the drums.

Frisk breathed out, trying to calm herself as she patted down her messy hair. She wished she had a hairbrush instead of fingers to get through her knotted hair.

"Oh really?" Frisk hummed, trying to shake off the sneaking suspicion that she was going insane. "Why is that?"

"Well, the lake's ice here isn't as thick as other lakes," He explained lamely. Frisk felt an urge to shoot a glare at Sans for not warning her before - unless before wasn't real...

It couldn't be... it is just... insane to think that actually happened. Sure I felt it with every fiber of my being and I'm pretty sure this is called denial but...

Frisk held back the urge to let out a deep sigh.

"Thank you for warning me Sans." Frisk nodded tiredly. "You know humans **'** weaknesses are frozen lakes?" Frisk smirked softly at Sans, earning herself a snort from the skeleton. Part of her vaguely questioned how a skeleton snorts.

"That's a very strange weakness kid." Sans put his hands in his jacket pockets as he continued to stare down at the ice. Frisk watched her own reflection with him for several minutes before she felt a small tingling sensation in the back of her skull. Her brow creased as she realized that the cold was nipping at her. Frisk rubbed her hands together, breathing into them to warm them up before she caught Sans looking very conflicted at her reflection.

"What?" Frisk asked, but Sans only shrugged before he walked off, leaving her behind.

Frisk glanced down at her reflection, half wondering what would happen if she stepped onto the ice again. Another, more rational part quickly chastised her for the stupid thought.

 _Don't be an idiot! Do you want that to happen?_

Frisk let out a heavy breath, her mind feeling heavy with all of this strange new information for her mind to process. Frisk felt her hand raise on it's own, placing itself on her chest.

Frisk's soul glowed, bright enough to shine through the sweaters. That was who she was. That was the culmination of her every thought, hope, and dream. It still shone, even with her mind so muddled right now over what had just happened.

Frisk let her arm drop as she started upwards at the sky above - No **,** wait, there was no sky, that's the ceiling of a giant mountain's cave.

She was still underground.

And she had to find a way out.

* * *

 _Thank you again to the wonderful coincidencless, who beta read this chapter!_


	7. Chapter Six

"I AM TELLING YOU JUNIOR JUMBLE IS THE HARDEST PUZZLE EVER CREATED!" Papyrus stomped his foot at Sans. "EVERY TRUE PUZZLE AFICIONADO LOOKS TO JUNIOR JUMBLE AS WHAT ONE DAY THEY CAN HOPE TO ACCOMPLISH!"

"What - really? Those easy-peasy word scrambles? But Pap, those are for baby bones," Sans explained, his expression filled with the tinge of humor.

Frisk watched curiously with the 'Crazy Kidz Word Search' paper in hand. Like the title stated, it was a simple word search. The strange bear-faced ice-cube character, named 'Ice-e' smiled statically on the front. It sat next to the puzzle, encouraging her to solve the puzzle. A text bubble sat under them, begging whoever was reading the paper to please solve the puzzle. Problem was, Frisk didn't have a pencil to mark what she found. She tried to use memory at first to find everything, but realized as soon as she got to the word cigars that she wouldn't be able to prove where the words were unless she marked it on paper. When she tried the bring it up to the two brothers, they had somehow gone from the argument of who would go home and get a pencil to if the puzzle was even good enough for the human. It had become a raging debate, but Frisk felt a small part of her start nudging the back of her brain.

 _You know, you can just walk past them._

"Un. Believable," Papyrus stated, sounding quite offended by the statement. Frisk for a second thought he was talking about the idea she had thought up, but slowly realized Papyrus was still talking to Sans about the Junior Jumble vs Crossword debate.

In all honesty there wasn't much meat to each side of the debate, instead it was more of a loud screaming versus the fact that it was a kid's puzzle. Frisk felt partially offended for the fact that kid puzzles, although colorful and bright, were quite difficult.

"HUMAN!" Papyrus hollered way too loud for how close she was. "YOU MUST SOLVE THIS PREDICAMENT! TELL ME, WHICH IS HARDER?" The Great Papyrus pointed his glove at Frisk dramatically, causing her to take a step back. "JUNIOR JUMBLE OR CROSSWORD?"

"Uh..." Frisk glanced at Sans, seeing his eyes were also on her. Wait. Was this a serious debate? Frisk coughed slightly, noticing her breath was visible. "I can't really tell you, I haven't played either of them." Frisk glanced to her right.

Papyrus gasped in shock, and by 'gasp' he actually just said the word gasp out loud. "SANS! WE MUST EDUCATE THE HUMAN ON THESE PUZZLES!" Papyrus declared, "ONCE I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, CAPTURE YOU, I SHALL TEACH YOU ABOUT THE WONDERS OF JUNIOR JUMBLE!"

"Sounds like a plan," Sans agreed with his brother. Did... that mean he wanted to capture me as well? But... why? Why was he also helping me then?

 _Maybe to trick you._

Frisk mulled over the thought as she watched Papyrus place his gloved hands on his bone hips. If he had skin then Papyrus would have been inside his body. For a moment Frisk began to question if putting something in between the bones would be painful, but pushed away the thought as the logical part of her brain started to pull up questions like the fact that they could move but had no muscles to actually move the bones around.

"THERE ARE MORE PUZZLES AHEAD HUMAN! COME ALONG!" Papyrus explained with much gusto before he ran ahead, obvious glee on his skeleton features. Frisk took a moment to glance at Sans, who seemed perfectly content on just standing there.

"Aren't you coming along?" Frisk questioned him curiously.

"Don't worry, I'll catch up." Sans waved his hand, then shut his eyes as if he was resting. Frisk walked to the next area, then glanced back, feeling slight paranoia hit her.

And he's gone.

Frisk took a moment to quiet the screaming logical part of her brain as she more hesitantly walked back. She looked around for footprints, perhaps a hole in the ground, or even a secret portal of magic.

There was nothing, not even footprint where Sans had just been. With that, Frisk noticed her gloved hand had moved towards her pocket.

The pocket that held her knife.

Frisk took a breath, trying to relax her shoulders. It's alright. He's done this before... When we see him again, I'll just ask him about it.

Frisk returned to the area up ahead, looking at the curious set of tables laid out before her. One end held a microwave that was plugged into... something, when she circled around she found it was plugged into the table itself.

 _Seems like another normal day in the Underground to me._

The other table had a note that was pinned down by a little tack. The words on the paper were squished together and messy, as if the perso-... monster who wrote this was in a hurry. It didn't help that she was also trying to read the note upside down.

"HAWUN... Hawun?" Frisk felt her brow crease as she picked up the tack and gently lifted up the paper so she could read it properly. "Oh. Human." Frisk snorted as she saw the all caps writing, immediately imagining Papyrus proudly screeching and writing down this note at the same time. Frisk cleared her throat before she read the note out loud, using the best Papyrus voice she could manage. "HUMAN!" Frisk couldn't quite manage to make her voice as loud as the skeleton's, but she thought the fact she was trying made the note sound better in her head. "PLEASe ENjoy this spaghetti." Frisk's voice tapered off as she continued to fail at the Papyrus voice.

Something was churning in her brain, a distinct fact that was eluding her, something that didn't quite add up. "Little do you know, this spaghetti is a trap! Designed to entice you! You'll be so busy eating it, you won't notice you're not progressing! Thoroughly japed by The Great Papyrus!" Frisk cleared her throat, then attempted to make whatever noise was written on the paper. "Nyahh hah hah..."

 _No no! Nyeh heh heh._

"Oh. Nyeh heh heh... Papyrus." Frisk felt confusion sweep over her body again. What... wait.

Frisk slowly raised her head, blinking slowly as she realized... she could read perfectly fine.

Frisk lifted up the note again, this time not taking the time to remove the tack. The tack ripped the paper, causing her to wince, but a much more eager part of her grinned with joy. She mentally reread the note, her mind not pausing, nor hesitating. She read it out loud again, this time quicker.

A small part of her felt confused.

"I... how...?" Frisk's joy slowly seeped away as she realized this wasn't the first time she read something perfectly without stuttering. Back at the Ruins she read a sign perfectly, and then, the sign about the box storage. Both times she had read them perfectly... and she didn't even notice...

The only time she had difficulty reading was when she was actually focusing on reading... like back at Toriel's home... but... she had been having difficulty reading before she fell down into the Underground. Reading was her weakest subject, she was several grades behind because she had to practice on her own, and even then finding books that were on her reading level was difficult. She had a stuttering problem where her mind would move too fast and her mouth wouldn't move fast enough, leading her to get all mixed up on what word was what and where she was.

But...why had she suddenly gotten so good at it?

Magic... could the magic around her have been affecting her? Did she have superhuman reading skills now?

Frisk glanced at the spaghetti in the middle, the frostbite visible from where she was standing. Frisk put the note back where it came from, carefully pinning it back as to not further rip the paper before she poked the plate of spaghetti.

Perhaps it was the food? She had eaten Toriel's pie... maybe it was magic pie that made her smart?

Frisk tried to lift up the plate, the hairs rising on the back of her neck from just how cold the meal was. Frisk pulled back her hands, rubbing them together meekly as she watched the plate with envious eyes. She hadn't been particularly hungry, but she did know that monsters that wanted her hurt wouldn't exactly be willing to feed her...

But Nabstablook did... And Toriel... and now Papyrus... even Sans had given her a coin... and... the... bunny? Sort of? Frisk felt herself suddenly forgetting if she actually accepted the Nicecream or not.

Frisk watched the snow around her feet, then took a moment to rub the life back into her legs. The feeling of the cold was becoming numb to her, which she was sure wasn't a good thing.

Why? Why were monsters so nice - and yet most of them attacked her on sight? Other than Flowey, she hadn't met a monster who had that same 'Kill or be killed' attitude. She had mostly talked her way out of fights... somehow. She didn't get it.

 _They're monsters. There's no logic to how they think._

Frisk sighed, her head starting to hurt. She felt the small lump on her head from when she was smacked with the electricity maze orb, then ran her hands down her arms, wincing at the injuries from Flowey. She glanced to her right, then felt her hair, catching the small spot where they dog monster had sliced past. She looked at her sweater, not forgetting to notice the cuts to the fabric.

Frisk sighed, her gloved hand rubbing her cheek, feeling the pink fabric under her skin. Frisk took a moment to blink, then glanced at her gloved hand, the fingers wiggling under her gaze. She sighed, pushing back the strange thought that she didn't actually move her hand to her face to the back of her mind.

Frisk then headed onward, noticing quickly another sign sitting next to a tree, a thin layer of snow covering the words. Frisk used her sweater sleeve to rub away the snow, leaving behind a very simple message.

 _Warning: Dog marriage._

Frisk blinked, confused, then reread the sign.

"Yes you read that right-" Frisk then took a jump back, eyes wide as the word's meaning suddenly changed around - but the sign didn't change... instead it was like... her brain changed...

Frisk read the sign, focusing intently on each word.

"Warning: Dog..." Frisk felt her brow crease as she confusingly looked at the next word, not quite sure how to pronounce it... even though she just said it. "Mirage..."

 _Marriage._

"Oh. Marriage..." Frisk glanced downwards, feeling dumb, then looked back at the sign. Frisk then felt a chill go up her spine, which was a rather unsettling thing because she had already become numb to the cold. Something clicked in her brain, the slow realization that for some reason... her brain had been responding to her thoughts.

Frisk jerked her head around, looking for the mind reading monster who must have been stalking her. Maybe Flowey could send messages into her brain to freak her out. Throw her off balance so when he appeared again she'd be unprepared mentally.

She couldn't see anyone around... which was not helping the sneaking suspicion that the monster was Flowey. She fiddled with her hair nervously.

Hello?

Nobody answered.

Of course there was no response who would answer back if they were trying to keep their secret mind reading powers a secret?

Frisk rubbed her head, silently wondering if getting hit on the head from that orb had given her a concussion.

Frisk silently moved forward, pulling at her sweaters nervously as she kept an eye out for any psychics.

There were two paths to follow, one heading down and turning out of sight and the other continuing to another dead end. A monster she couldn't quite make out in a full suit of shiny armor patrolled up and down the dead end, making it clear she shouldn't go over there. Frisk rushed down the other path to make sure the monster didn't see her.

Last thing she wanted to do was get into another fight, let alone with a monster who had an entire wardrobe to protect them.

Frisk tripped, landing face first into the snow, making her yelp in shock. Apparently she wasn't numb to the cold in her clothes. She pushed herself back up, quickly struggling to wiggle out the snow before it melted and lowered her body temperature even more. As she did so, she looked behind her to see she had tripped over some kind of... strange line? Frisk paused her shaking to kick away the snow further, revealing even more lines. Boxes, shapes, and what was revealed to be an X showed itself before the might of her shoes.

Frisk studied the strange object, tapping her shoe gently against one of the lines. It refused to move. Frisk kicked away more snow from this line to reveal it was screwed into a wooden frame, refusing to move even when she tried to pick it up.

 _It's a map._

Frisk felt the realization hit her before she even had thought of it. She took several steps back, imagining herself having an aerial view of this part of the forest, before realizing the x that marked... something, was back where the guard was.

Frisk shook her head before she tried to move on - only to find spikes had lined the pathway, keeping her from moving forward.

Of course it couldn't be already solved. That would be too easy.

Frisk sighed and delicately followed the map's directions back to where the monster was still guarding.

The beast wasn't as large as Papyrus, but it was much more intimidating then them. Although, that wasn't saying much. The monster wasn't facing her, but she could see two pointed ears twisting as they stopped moving. A tiny tail wiggled from behind before the armored monster turned to face her, it's snout wiggling and a tongue lolled out of it's mouth. That sense of intimidation she felt before melted away as she looked at it's goofy face.

It was a very adorable looking dog wearing armor. Its skinny legs weren't covered though, immediately causing the logic part of her to try and figure out how such skinny hind legs could hold up so much armor. Frisk pushed away the confusion as the dog raised it's sword and shield.

Frisk recognized the detailed coat of arms on the shield as the one Toriel had been wearing on her dress, and the one on the exit door she had walked out of to reach the snowy forest. What did it mean? Was it some kind of monster language-

The dog in armor barked before it suddenly leapt towards Frisk, it's steel sword outstretched. Frisk reacted accordingly by letting out a terrified yelp and jumping back, the sword cutting through her outer sweater, letting the heat she had gathered from her adventure in the forest escape.

Frisk glanced to her gloved hand as suddenly she felt it reach down into her pocket.

Frisk saw the sword turn blue, her eyes going wide as she remembered Sans's advice. Blue means stop.

Frisk promptly pulled her gloved hand out her her pocket, feeling a part of her grow irritated as she covered her face so she didn't have to see the monster's attack hit her. She waited several seconds, her eyes squeezed shut.

 _Wait..._

 _Wait..._

Frisk heard the sound of something swish, and she squeezed her eyes shut as hard as she could, trying to keep herself from shaking.

 _Move!_

Frisk uncovered her face just in time to see the monster jumping towards her again, this time it's entire body being thrown at her. Frisk felt her legs move before she had even thought about it. She had jumped up, trying to leap over the monster. It didn't work as the monster hit her dead on. Her chest tightened as her soul ached from being hit. It wasn't the same searing pain from fire or vines, but more like getting her head hit with some armor so hard it made her brain rattle inside her skull.

She felt the entire weight of the monster on top of her as she gasped from the cold snow seeping into her shirt. Her gloved hand that could have reached her knife was pinned painfully down under one of the plates. Her other arm was wrapped around the monster's head, rubbing against it's fur as she struggled to push the beast off of her.

And then it's neck grew.

For several seconds the neck continued to grow longer and longer, the logical part of her brain silently wondering how a monster that size could fit that much inside such small set of armor. She could hear it's tail practically slamming against its own armor, causing her to wonder if it hurt the monster to do that. The dog monster reached around it's longer neck and let out another yip of joy. Frisk felt the pressure of armor push itself off of her and she took this opportunity to jump back up before the snow chilled her until she was nothing but a human popsicle.

She noticed as well that her gloved hand was holding the knife in it's hand, pointing the toy dangerously at the monster. She hadn't moved her hand to get the knife, yet it was already there. She mused silently over this fact before she pushed it away to focus on the monster before her. Besides, the plastic wouldn't do much to a full set of armor. Frisk took at glance at the monster to make sure they wouldn't attack her.

Frisk raised an eyebrow at the monster's rolling around in the snow, but concluded after watching the armored dog that the monster was more focused on flattening the snowflakes then dealing with her. In the several seconds she had looked away it had already made two snow angels with really long necks and was already working on it's third.

Frisk cautiously stepped around the dog's excited masterpieces, the task of finding the switch coming to mind. She sneezed, then reached down to use her sweater to wipe away the snot before she felt the sliced fabric she was wearing. Frisk sighed as she examined the damage to the purple striped sweater she had put on before. There was a long slice down the center, making it look as if she had nearly been gutted in half.

You were nearly gutted in half.

Frisk sighed as she wiped her nose with the upper half of the sliced sweater, the green and yellow striped one still visible underneath. She glanced at the dog again, seeing they had stopped making snow angels and was running off to... do whatever dog monsters did when they weren't hunting humans. Maybe chase monster squirrels or monster mailmen.

The switch was easy to find, there was an obvious area of snow that had been cleared out, leaving a grey pressure plate sticking out obnoxiously against the pure white snow. One click later and Frisk headed back from once she came, kicking at bits of the ground absentmindedly, her hands trailing to pull at her sliced over sweater.

There was another bridge crossing a small scar on the earth, the winter trees below appearing much closer then before. Was this path leading down into the cavern below? Frisk bit her lip, rubbing her arms as she crossed the bridge to the other side. Frisk first noticed the strange clearing in the snow, line lines running back and forth as if someone had taken a pencil and drawn through the frost to create a design. It didn't seem familiar to her, just another oddity to add to the building chaos that she called her brain.

Frisk then heard several crunching of boots. She looked up to see not one, but two very large monsters running right for her. Frisk felt herself step backwards, her eye glancing towards the bridge with a worried gaze, and then from where the two hooded figures had come from. There were two pathways to choose from, running forwards or back. Frisk paused her mental planning to look up at the massive axes that the dog creatures held in their paws, the matching designs almost seeming cute if not for the fact they were raised above her head, ready to strike through her skull with no mercy.

"What's that smell?" A distinctively female voice asked in a hushed tone. As the two of them got closer, Frisk noticed both of them wiggling their noses as a frown came over their faces. The one on the right, who held their axe with slightly more vigor, glanced around with suspicious eyes at the world around them, their face snarling slightly.

"Where's that smell?" This time the male spoke from the left, his axe dragging behind slightly as his nose twitched, their eyes laying right on where she stood. Frisk froze, grabbing at her chest as she waited to see out the bottom of her eyes her heart glowing red through her shirts. After a moment of silence they both stepped forward in unison, their noses raised to the sky.

"If you're that smell..." the female dog growled.

"Identify yoursmelf!" The other one completed, his hackles raised.

The dogs then split off, walking on all fours as they took a whiff of the snow under them, heading in opposite directions- away from her.

Are... they blind?

Frisk took this opportunity to take a step forward, to hopefully sneak past the duo and run so far away that they couldn't smell her, only for once her foot stepped down, the crunch of the snow under her foot made both of their ears perk up, the hoods slipping off as they twitched. Frisk's eyes widened, shoulders tensing as she paused mid-step, the top of her shoe sitting an inch into the snow while the bottom of her heel was raised. She balanced on one foot as she watched the two of them turn around to face her, stepping inch by inch closer to her.

Frisk found herself shaking, the position she was in being very uncomfortable to say the least. The dogs were right beside her, their noses suddenly brushing against her ripped shirt as she heard them take a sniff.

"Hmm..." The female one tilted her head with a clearly confused expression. "Here is that weird smell..." she stated, the other one nodding in agreement with a soft woof. "It makes me want to..." A small part of her hoped that the dog would say be friends- "Eliminate!" She barked out not a second later, crashing her mental hope she wouldn't have to fight these dogs.

"Eliminate you!" The male monster continued, his axe raised above his head. Frisk squealed, jumping forward as the axe slammed into the snow where she just stood, cutting the ice in two. Frisk skidded against the snow as she had failed to arm herself to where she could be on her feet, the ice fleeing into her shirt, making her arms and all her injuries violently shudder. She pushed herself back up, finding dirt from under the snow had covered her elbows and the front of her shirt in slushy mud.

"Let's kick human tail!" the male one stated with a grin on his face, axe raised in unison with his female companion.

"Do humans even have tails?" she suddenly asked, her own tail wagging against the hooded black clothing she had on. The axes fell once again before she could answer, Frisk diving back to in between the dogs to avoid being sliced in half. She rolled, landing sideways and collecting more dirt and snow for her clothes. The dogs sniffed, their expressions suddenly filling with confusion. The female raised a paw to the male. "Wait- This isn't a human at all!" She suddenly cried out with a whimper, grabbing onto her other half's shoulder with a hard shake. "This is a puppy!"

 _What?_

"What!?" The other one cried out almost in unison to her own thoughts, but instead of exclaiming she was a puppy, he jumped closer, and sniffing her mud and snow caked clothes. The nose went up and sniffed her face and she couldn't help but giggle involuntarily, the feeling the nose and whiskers against her cold face tickling her.

"Ah- um, woof?" Frisk hoped her dog impression was reasonable- although from their conflicted expressions they looked... less then pleased.

"What is a puppy doing out here!?" The female dog stomped her axe hilt against the snow. "Puppies shouldn't be out here!"

"What should we do?" the other one asked tentatively, resting the hilt of his axe against the snow.

"I don't know! We have to finish our shift!" she frustratedly complained to the other. "We have to lookout for those humans, but we can't leave a puppy here!" Frisk watched back and forth their conversation with slight curiosity. Frisk stood up, gauging that she was about three fourths their height, giving them a good foot or so over her. She glanced at the opening past them, right under their axes she could just slip past-

"Puppy!" the male called out suddenly, making her jump.

"A-Arf!" She barked out with a stutter, raising her hands as she took a step back, almost convinced that they knew what she was thinking.

"You need to go home, where is it?" Frisk grabbed onto her hands, rubbing them nervously. Should she speak- or just bark? What did puppies do down here?

"S-Snowdin!" Frisk stated, "Bark!" She added after a split second, hoping that it would work. The two of them looked at each other, their ears flicked back as they seemed to be trying to figure out what to do.

"That's strange- we're stationed there for the time being-" Frisk grabbed onto her sliced shirt, rocking back and forth on her heels. Dang it- they would find her out that she isn't there! I need a distraction! What would distract a dog completely? A cat- but, these were monster dogs- would they chase monster cats?

 _Well all the dogs so far all seem pretty excited about petting._

"Um- Pet?" Frisk found the word completely caused their demeanors to change, causing the female to drop her sentence like yesterday's news and both of them perked their ears up, their shoulders tensing as they stared at her with wide eyes she couldn't figure out.

"Pet?" the male asked, his head tilting to the side.

"Yes-" Frisk reached forward, petting the male on his head lightly as he became puddy in her fingers, falling against the ground and his tail wagging so hard that it thrashed back and forth like a wild snake. The female jumped forward, pushing her muzzle into Frisk's other hand, feeling the warmth of her muzzle making the outside world seem so much colder. The mud on her clothes ended up rubbing into their pristine white fur as she obediently petted the duo, both of them excitedly making yipping sounds of joy as they rested their heads- which were larger then her leg now that she realize this- in her hands as she scratched under their chins. They were so... warm!

 _Okay, time to go._

"Okay, time to go," Frisk told them, taking a step back as they both slowly stood back up to full height, their ears down as they pouted. "Uh- arf," Frisk added after a second of thought.

"A dog that pets other dogs... amazing!" the female exclaimed, bouncing up and down as the axe slammed against the snow, cutting into the ice and sending shavings into the air.

"I can't believe it! A whole other world has opened up for us" The other one dropped his axe to the ground, grabbing onto the other's paws as they nuzzled into each other as they yipped and yapped excitedly.

Frisk chucked, rubbing her arms and feeling her elbows, feeling that skidding in the ice had made her skin raw. She held back a wince as she passed the duo, letting out a sigh of relief that she got out of the fight more or less intact.

As Frisk continued down the pathway, she noticed the trees on the snowy floor were getting closer- so either she was heading downwards steadily, further towards the center of the earth, or the trees were growing taller and taller the further into the mountain she went. She assumed the former was the truth, but honestly, the latter could very well be true as well.

The pathway cutoff, leading to a small clearing of snow that had a suspicious design that keyed her in that there might be a puzzle afoot. For starters, there were rows of snow poffs that were unnaturally build up to make a sideways H if she had an aerial view, and inside each part of the H was an unnatural, glowing blue X that was floating about an inch above the actual snow itself. Another clue was a very obvious button sticking out of the ground behind the H that was unnaturally clean. Then of course was the sign right beside the H that said "Turn every X into a O then press the switch." Which, if Frisk didn't think it was a puzzle, it was definitely a puzzle now.

Frisk quickly paused, the realization that she had read another sign without thinking again making her start to worry even more. Frisk struggled to push away the thoughts of fret in her brain as she looked up.

Oh. Also there was Papyrus standing right behind a row of spikes that kept her from moving forward with a confused expression on his face, so that was a dead giveaway this was a Great Papyrus Puzzle.

Frisk walked over the the costume wearing skeleton, waving meekly with one hand as he immediately spoke up when she came closer.

"WHAT?! HOW DID YOU AVOID MY TRAP?" Frisk glanced at the puzzle behind her, an eyebrow raised as she looked at the spikes ahead of her. Technically she was trapped for now so... she hadn't really avoided it. "AND... MORE IMPORTANTLY... IS THERE ANY LEFT FOR ME?"

Left? What would she have lef-

 _The spaghetti._

The lightbulb went off in her brain as the realization dawned on her. The two monster fights before had made her kinda forget about the interesting trap Papyrus had set for her.

Frisk felt a dilemma rise in her throat as she rubbed her chin. If she said she didn't eat it, then would Papyrus get angry? But, she didn't want to lie either only for him to check later and realize she was lying...

But then again was it possible she wouldn't meet him again? Frisk had no idea how large the underground was, but the fact there was clouds and giant trees hinted to how big it must be. If she wasn't going to meet him anymore then... perhaps it would be the best if she spared his feelings.

 _Why does it matter?_

The thought was rude but brutally honest, Frisk had to admit. It was true, that perhaps it didn't matter a whole lot, but to her it did, and she was sure it meant a lot to Papyrus.

"Yes, I ate it," Frisk spoke up after her internal debate, and she was glad she did because Papyrus's skeleton face stretched out into a wide grin as he placed his gloved hands on his face.

"REALLY?!" His face fell slightly. "WOWIE... NOBODY'S EVER LOVED MY COOKING BEFORE..." Papyrus paused, somehow giving the impression he glanced away dispite the lack of pupils. "WELL THEN! FRET NOT HUMAN! I, MASTER CHEF PAPYRUS, WILL MAKE YOU ALL THE PASTA YOU COULD EVER WANT!" Papyrus then chuckled a laugh of pure excitement, turning on his heel and heading further down the path to Snowdin.

Frisk genuinely grinned ear to ear at the fact she had made Papyrus so happy, even though he was technically trying to capture her. Frisk skipped over to the closest X, but then stopped as she looked at it with a mix of sudden fear and curiosity. This was clearly magic of some sort, but... would be..? Papyrus wouldn't have some sort of trick right? Frisk felt like he wouldn't, but then again, capture is a thing he's trying to do.

Frisk opened her cellphone, rubbing off some of the melted ice that had collected and pulled out the bandages she had stored away. Frisk then simply threw it at the magic.

Sadly the magic didn't change, instead the bandages fell through but nothing happened to the shape at all. Not even a flicker to register!

Frisk took then a moment to hesitantly reach through the shape to get to the bandages-

Frisk jerked back her hand as it changed into an O, a soft red color replacing the more vibrant blue. Frisk looked at the bandages in her hand, examining them carefully, as well as her hand itself to make sure there was no strange tingling.

Nope, it looked safe enough. Frisk returned the bandages to her phone, slipping it in the same pocket as the plastic knife and headed to the other X, changing it and flipping the switch with a quick step.

The spikes fell into their steel covering, hiding away from the world. Frisk breathed into her mud caked hands, finding that it wasn't doing anything for her anymore- which she suspected wasn't a good thing.

Frisk walked up to another clearing, making her want to sigh as she wondered how far Snowdin was. A pathway sprung up from the snow in this area, leading her forward as she was eager to follow and hurry up and go before she ended up freezing forever.

She was still wearing shorts too.

Frisk glanced at Papyrus, rubbing her hands together as she heard him start following next to her as she walked.

"SO MY BROTHER STARTED A SOCK COLLECTION RECENTLY." Frisk found herself nodding softly, not quite sure if this information was important or not. "HOW SADDENING... SOMETIMES I WONDER WHAT HE WOULD DO WITHOUT A SUCH A COOL GUY TAKING CARE OF HIM?" Frisk snorted, then nodded quickly as to not seem rude.

She then looked at the even bigger X and O puzzle before her, the several different designs that looked to be in the vague shape of a scribble. Frisk heard Papyrus chuckle. "HUMAN... HOW DO I SAY THIS... YOU WERE TAKING A LONG TIME TO ARRIVE... SO I DECIDED TO IMPROVE THE PUZZLE!" Papyrus explained, mentioning to the mess before her. "I ARRANGED THE PUZZLE TO LOOK MORE LIKE MY FACE." Frisk glanced at it, raising an eyebrow but not commenting on it's lack of face... or any shape at all. "UNFORTUNATELY, THE SNOW FROZE INTO THE GROUND, SO NOW THE SOLUTION IS DIFFERENT..." Frisk bit back a sigh.

"AND AS USUAL, MY LAZY BROTHER IS NOWHERE AROUND." Papyrus then rolled his hand. "I GUESS WHAT I AM SAYING IS, WORRY NOT HUMAN!" Papyrus placed a hand on his armored plating, his cape flowing behind him, despite the extreme lack of wind. "I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL SOLVE THIS CONUNDRUM! THEN WE CAN BOTH PROCEED!" He paused, looking over the puzzle before he motioned towards it. "MEANWHILE, FEEL FREE TO TRY THE PUZZLE YOURSELF! I'LL TRY NOT TO GIVE AWAY THE ANSWER!" Papyrus grinned innocently.

Frisk shrugged, looking at the puzzle with a soft confusion as she rubbed her chin, looking at the various traps that she could end up falling for that would mess up the puzzle. Frisk started from the front, looping around twice before she stepped on the same shape twice, causing it to change into a green triangle- which she sure was probably not part of the answer. Frisk hummed, returning to the front as she looked at Papyrus, himself looking at the puzzle and rubbing his chin with an inquisitive expression... or what could count as inquisitive without any skin.

"Um," Frisk started, causing Papyrus to look down at her with a slight tilt of his head.

"YES, HUMAN? DO YOU NEED HELP FROM THE GREAT PAPYRUS?" Frisk motioned towards the puzzle, a soft shrug escaping her.

"How do you reset it?"

Papyrus wasted no time pointing out the button. "SIMPLY PRESS THE BUTTON AND EVERYTHING WILL BE RESET IN A FLASH!" Papyrus explained with a grin. Frisk thanked them and quickly did so, and indeed, true to his word, all the shapes reset.

Frisk tried a different angle, heading towards the back and heading up to loop around the shapes, but it turned green again, causing her to head back and reset it. She contained for several minutes before plopping down next to Papyrus with a frustrated expression on her face. She folded her arms, definitely not pouting at this puzzle.

"HUMAN?" Papyrus asked, "DO YOU NEED MORE HELP FROM ME?"

"I don't like this puzzle," she complained to him, earning a gasp from him. "I-" Frisk jerked upwards to look at him, tensing her shoulders. "I mean! I mean it's too hard for me!" she explained raising her hands with a wince. Papyrus went from slightly offended and a lot hurt to suddenly grinning like a wildman.

"THAT'S QUITE ALRIGHT HUMAN! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS SHALL SOLVE IT!" Papyrus then headed to the back of the puzzle, marched upwards and looped around, exited the front... then changed one of the shapes green. Papyrus blinked, raising his foot where he had stood before heading back and resetting the puzzle.

This contained for three minutes as Papyrus amusingly got more and more frustrated, eventually getting to the point where he walked over and sat on the ground next to Frisk, folded his arms and was definitely not pouting.

"IT SEEMS I HAVE THOROUGHLY JAPED MYSELF!" Papyrus huffed. "I AM SO SMART THAT THE SOLUTION WAS TOO COMPLEX FOR ME TO REMEMBER ALL THE STEPS!"

Frisk nodded next to them, in full agreement. "How are we going to get past the puzzle though? There's spikes." Frisk waved her hand towards the spikes on the other side.

"I'LL JUST WALK OVER- HONESTLY I USUALLY DON'T HAVE TO DO THESE PUZZLES SINCE I JUST STEP OVER THE SPIKES," Papyrus explained, pushing himself up so he was at his full height.

Yep he could probably leap to the moon he was so tall.

"What about me?" Frisk asked honestly, earning her answer as Papyrus suddenly picked up the human around her torso, holding her upside down for a minute before turning her around so she was held like a child holding their first baby doll. Far away from the torso and in front for all to see. "Eep-" Frisk gasped, grabbing onto Papyrus's gloves as she looked below, now being a good few feet above the earth that she wasn't used to.

Papyrus simply stepped over like he said, then put her back down on the other side. "OKAY HUMAN, DON'T TELL SANS." Frisk nodded in confirmation.

"Don't tell Sans what?" Frisk jumped, spinning around as her hand immediately went for her pocket. Papyrus let put his own yelp, his skeleton head spinning around. She relaxed with a deep sigh of relief as she realized it was only Sans... who had spontaneously appeared behind them.

"AH. SANS! THERE YOU ARE!" Papyrus greeting him, ignoring the question he asked all together. "WELL, I NEED TO GO AHEAD! GOODBYE!" Papyrus then leapt away, using his long strides to head to the next puzzle. Frisk tensed her shoulders, glancing at Sans- his expression looking like he was still waiting for an answer.

"Uh..." Frisk trailed off, her eyes glancing away. "I gotta go ahead. Goodbye!" Frisk repeated Papyrus's escape by scrambling ahead, ignoring the curious gaze of the skeleton behind her.

Frisk stopped when the next puzzle was revealed to be... what looked like an unlit dance floor, both of the skeletons standing next to each other besides a machine that was rectangular with a bunch of buttons on the front that almost looked like a child's play toy.

Frisk glanced back to see Sans was indeed not behind her anymore, causing her to state at him with deep confusion. He was... literally... what?! Frisk pointed to him, then back to the spot he was literally not a second ago, her face scrunched up as she tried to figure it out.

Sans merely shrugged, his hands shoved into his pockets as he seemed to be chucking. Frisk rolled her eyes, declaring this was the work of some weird magic- or Sans had a twin and was messing with her.

"HEY, ITS THE HUMAN!" Papyrus stated, interrupting their little exchange. "YOU'RE GONNA LOVE THIS PUZZLE! IT WAS MADE BY THE GREAT DOCTOR ALPHYS!" He explained, mentioning towards the grey tile flooring that didn't have a speck of snow on it, despite the fact it was literally in a pile of snow. The flooring covered almost the entire area, leaving only a small sliver for the skeletons and herself to stand on. "YOU SEE THESE TILES?"

Frisk nodded briskly, eager to get to Snowdin as she rubbed her hands together again, attempting to gather some sort of feeling out of them. Papyrus raised his gloved hand, setting it on a rather large switch that jutted out of the front of the machine. "ONCE I FLIP THIS SWITCH, THE TILES WILL CHANGE COLOR!" Papyrus raised his hand to the sky, his eyes closed as he continued with his boisterous speech. "EACH OF THE COLORS HAVE A DIFFERENT FUNCTION! FIRSTLY THERE IS RED, WHICH IS IMPASSABLE. YOU CANNOT WALK ON THEM!" Papyrus clarified. "YELLOW TILES ARE ELECTRIC, THEY WILL ELECTROCUTE YOU. GREEN TILES ARE ALARM TILES, IF YOU STEP ON THEM, YOU WILL HAVE TO FIGHT A MONSTER!" Frisk tensed up, glancing down at the tiles before her. "ORANGE TILES ARE ORANGE SCENTED. THEY WILL MAKE YOU SMELL DELICIOUS!" Frisk blinked, her eyebrows wrinkling. "BLUE TILES ARE WATER TILES." And with that Frisk took a step back, crossing her arms as she nervously watched the tiles. "SWIM THROUGH IF YOU LIKE... BUT IF YOU SMELL LIKE ORANGES, THE PIRANHAS WILL BITE YOU!"

 _Maybe you can run past now and just avoid all this headache._

The idea was so tempting.

"ALSO IF A BLUE TILE IS NEXT TO A YELLOW TILE, THE WATER WILL ALSO ZAP YOU. PURPLE TILES ARE SLIPPERY, AND YOU WILL SLIP TO THE NEXT TILE... HOWEVER THE SLIPPERY SOAP SMELLS LIKE LEMONS, WHICH PIRANHAS DON'T LIKE! SO PURPLE AND BLUE ARE OKAY!"

Frisk honestly felt like her head was spinning at all of these rules and colors. Frisk raised her hand, wiggling it slightly as she tried to catch Papyrus's attention.

"HOLD ON HUMAN, I'M ALMOST DONE! FINALLY THERE'S PINK TILES! THEY DON'T DO ANYTHING! STEP ON THEM ALL YOU LIKE!" Papyrus looked at her with an expecting gaze, a grin on his face. Had he memorized that entire rulebook? "HOW WAS THAT? DO YOU UNDERSTAND?"

"Wait- Oranges make you orange scented right?" Frisk asked the much taller skeleton.

He nodded with his gloved on his hips. "YES HUMAN, THAT IS CORRECT!" he clarified. Frisk took another moment to look at the flooring, biting inside her lip. Frisk noticed Sans was sleeping after all that talking.

"Uh, and... so are there actual piranhas in the water...?"

"OF COURSE!" Of course. Frisk sighed, wringing her shirt as she looked at them. So there were not only real piranhas but also the fact she couldn't swim.

 _Just run through!_

"Okay- uh, go ahead." Frisk motioned for him to flip the switch, her eyes watching as he smiled wildly and eagerly raised his hand over the switch, stopping just an inch above it.

"Oh! Another thing! This switch is entirely random!" Down flipped the switch. The tiles changed rapidly, the colors flashing so vividly that she had to block it out with her hand so she didn't go blind.

Wait what?! That could potentially lead to the possibility that it was unsolvable!

Frisk lowered her hand as the colors slowed, a clicking noise for each switch as she watched a very strange pattern show up.

It was a pathway of pink leading right across with red on either sides with no interruptions. Frisk looked up at Papyrus, his face blank. She stared at him, then at the pathway, then back at him.

"Do you want to try again...?" Frisk asked tentatively, only for Papyrus to raise a gloved hand, then promptly walk away without another word.

Frisk walked across, looking at Sans as he looked at where his brother went with a soft chuckle. Frisk raised an eyebrow at him.

"Did you do that?" she asked. Perhaps it was some sort of prank?

"Hmm? No, of course not." He turned his head slightly to her, then motioned to her with one of his bony fingers. "You know you're covered in mud right?" Frisk lifted one of her arms to see the mud was still on her, frozen over and clinging to dear life.

"Oh, yeah. Those dogs back there-" Frisk motioned back towards where she had come from. "I had to get out of the way of their axes..." Frisk picked some of the mud chunks off of her clothes, dropping them to the earth. "So uh... yeah."

"Hmm. So you know that spaghetti back there?" Frisk nodded to him. "Well it wasn't too bad for my brother. Since he's started cooking lessons he's been improving a lot. I bet if he keeps it up, by next year he might make something editable." Frisk gave Sans a weird look. Was the spaghetti bad?

Frisk saw the gaze Sans was giving her, like he expected a small laugh or a chuckle. Frisk obliged by chuckling.

Frisk paused, then glanced back at past the puzzle. She turned to him, her mouth open. "Hey how did-" Frisk stopped when she realized he was gone, leaving behind two footprints in the snow where he had been standing. She merely blinked, glanced around, then hunched over a little. "Come onn!" Frisk called out, "Why do you keep doing that!?"

Frisk grumbled softly to herself, heading onwards with folded arms.

* * *

 _Thank you to coincidencless who previewed this chapter and was my editor!_


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